Ritual

Incomplete Durga image being
prepared by a Kalighat
(Calcutta) folk artist. Clay.
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achieve spiritual deliverance. The force of this impulse shifts the
objective of art from being an end in itself to being the means to an
end. The artist pursues his task as a detached observer free from
everything that flatters his individual vanity. His path is one of
selfless action, where there is a total annihilation of his ego, since his
intention is constantly not to express himself but that which ought
to be expressed; that is to reveal a 'thesis'. Art of this nature, where
the individual longs to cut through the shackles of egohood in
order to merge with the universal consciousness for the sake of
spiritual enlightenment, has always remained anonymous. Rarely
are the works of Silpi-yogins signed or do they bear any mark of
individual identity, for any sign of exhibitionism renders the entire
pursuit futile. The impact of the aesthetic discipline on the
personality of the artist is itself so strong that many who have
passed through it finally and inevitably become saints.
Though separated by centuries, the sign-language of tantra art
and the works of many modern abstract artists run parallel. Tantra
seems to have anticipated many forms that only recently have been
rediscovered in the works of contemporary artists. It is interesting
to note that what a modern artist struggles to achieve through a
process of distillation by and expression of his individual