Kuben Pillay

?Since I am passionately drawn to nature, landscape is my favourite subject. I often relate with the painting of landscape on an ?emotional level?. In essence what I want from landscape is something magical and ?spiritual?. I recognize nature as the source of all art; when I paint, I emphasize these nature qualities. I see art as a tangible part of his existence and what I want from my subject is something more than a superficial reflection of reality. I often express the notion of landscape as ?something spiritual? ? spirituality not in the form of the divine, but an uncompromising attachment to nature. Thus my work takes on a quasi-mystical feeling. I have 4 basic approaches to my subject-matter: Firstly, I draw from nature and transfer that drawing into a painting. Secondly, I paint directly from the physical landscape itself. Thirdly, instead of drawing or painting from the physical landscape, I use my imagination and create my own landscapes. Lastly, while walking or driving along the landscape, I take a mental photograph of that landscape; at a later stage I recall the landscape and paint it. I sometimes use different aspects of different landscape to compose a single composition. Art can never exist in isolation, free from influences and experimentalism, new and innovative ideas always find a place in my art making. I am attracted to the romantic views about landscape, I always felt that the landscape reflected something spiritual and is worth some sort of worship. Because of my quest for this emotive aspect in my paintings, I am seldom satisfied with my own works and am constantly looking for something new. At the end of the day actions are more important than words. I constantly find myself at a crossroads ? making a living ? a career is an obstacle to the making of art.?