Philosophy - Limited Edition of 25 Print

The following, written on the completion of the work itself, in January 2016: 'It has been pointed out to me, by artists, that I give much more a description of my work than is necessary, thereby decreasing its effect as work of art. And it has been pointed out to me, also, by non-artists, that description is just what is missing in most modern artwork; and, that they are being enabled to understand it, is a relief for them. From both of these I conclude that my work is weak in how it currently is. Compare with something like Dickens' Christmas Carol or Tolstoy's Gospel in Brief or Van Gogh's Wheat-field with Reaper or Breton's Song of the Lark or much by the Peredvizniki group of artists. Ambiguity is rarely a defining quality of these works; what is really ambiguous is left ambiguous and not attempted to be clarified, and what is clearly unambiguous is not purposely made ambiguous to impress. My painting is inferior in so far as being a work of art it requires words at all to be explained. Admitting that however, I must proceed as I have been. The title I originally intended to be 'Philosophical Confusion', however, just 'Philosophy' is preciser. For a person seriously concerned with it, it is not punctuated, with spells of confusion, but consists solely of it- and the often torturous need to overcome it. Philosophical confusion- I have used that phrase in almost every serious conversation I have had since some time. Trials of ridding myself of it, is what marks my days and nights. The picture may best be described to an uncomprehending (through no fault of his own) viewer as follows: ‘You remind me of somebody who is looking out through a closed window and cannot explain to himself the strange movements of a passer-by. He cannot tell what sort of storm is raging out there or that this person might only be managing with difficulty to stay on his feet.’ But let me not describe much further; I hope through what conclusions I am presenting now, and with what I have written previously, the mood I hoped to convey, and the spirit in which the work was done, would be clearer. What I've been struggling with since so long to get into words, and which I hope to be able to conclude with this very expression, let me summarise as follows: 'Everything is what it is, and not another thing', 'Am Anfang war die Tat' (In the beginning was the deed), 'I am my world', and that 'To suffer without complaining is the one lesson that has to be learned in this life.' The first is possibly the closest to what the picture mainly conveys, warns against. The third and fourth may need further explanation. 'Idealism singles men out from the world as unique, solipsism singles me alone out, and at last I see that I too belong with the rest of the world. In this way idealism leads to realism if it is strictly thought out.' An eye in a visual field, it is part of it, and yet everything is seen by it. An honest idealist, strives to change himself to change the world; an honest realist is led to nothing other than stoicism. And how many great men have there been, who are both stoics and who look within for faults they find in the world. The last, has primarily to do with Satyagraha. In the realm of affection, it can be summarised by saying that what ought to be sought is to be able to give, and not to be able to receive. 'And this giving is not giving up, not being deprived, sacrificed. Also, it is not where giving without receiving is "being cheated". It must not feel like an impoverishment; it is the highest expression of potency.' Wittgenstein describes as a quality of every great work of art, it having in it, 'a wild animal, tamed'. Consider as a final elaboration of this, the third movement of Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Sonata. It is vulgar in its expression, and desperate; but necessarily so. It describes, exactly, the wildness of the wild animal, restrained, striving to erupt into the open. A fracture in its cage, it has caught sight of.' The original not being on sale, high quality giclée prints are available on archival 310 GSM Hahnemühle paper, 1:1; printed using archival inks, these prints will last one a lifetime. Though, really, it does not make much sense in limiting the number of editions of a digital print, as I also indeed wish to control what aspects of quality I can (by way of supervising printing myself, and thereby being excluded from being able to sell open edition on Saatchi), I have decided to limit them to 25. As regards the costing rationale: having attempted selling my prints, previously, at their cost prices themselves, and having left the evaluation of my labour upon my customers to decide- and consequently, not having been able to make ends meet, I have decided, for the first time, to set a fixed profit for myself, in keeping with current practice. Wishing to remain entirely honest however, I must add that it costs me ₹475 per square foot to have the print printed, and ₹100 to have the original scanned, besides which packaging can be accounted for by adding another ₹1000. Entirely unable myself to set a price upon my work, I have chosen what I've seen on Saatchi itself being set for other similarly sized prints (choosing to remain still on the more reasonable side of things). It is for me, really, I must admit, an experiment, this.

Printmaking:Watercolor on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:25

Size:29.5 W x 22 H x 0 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.