Art as a Living Entity

The space of active looking and art as a living entity

My primary research has centred on exploring questions of how art can exist beyond being merely an object and become a living entity – something that breathes, holds movement, time, gravity and energy. How painting can become a space that opens up a sense of sacredness, both for the viewer and for myself. Something that really interests me is the idea of active looking – “Looking is not passive; the viewer actively participates in constructing the visual experience”, as discussed by Cecily Brown. This makes me think about the relationship of the viewer with the work and the artist itself. 

Vivien Zhang in her artist talk mentioned that she wants viewers to experience something what she experiences while creating her work. This resonated deeply with my own practice, which is physical, intuitive and process-led; and my desire to encourage the viewer to move with the artwork and activate the space around it. The positioning of my painting surfaces is never entirely fixed or still. At different stages of making, I turn them upside down, suspend them, place them on the floor or work on them from different angles. Movement becomes an integral part of the process. As Zhang mentions, the process involving fast paced drips, slow repetitive circular marks and forms, encourages viewer’s eye to move around the work and experience movement and stillness. I often step away from making and enter the position of a viewer, examining the work, observing what is happening and questioning how it might hold someone’s attention. I consider how the work can invite the viewer into an encounter rather than simply present itself as an image to be looked at.

With my work I Live by Your Grace, for instance, I wanted to challenge conventional ways of displaying painting. By breaking away from the stretched canvas and allowing the material to remain loose and free, I wanted to extend the physical experience of encountering the work. The viewer is invited to walk around it, bend down, stretch their neck, kneel to examine the threads, move closer and further away, and return to discover the painting from another side. The work has a dual surface, and experiencing it requires movement and a willingness to explore. These are gestures that I naturally perform while working in the studio; through the installation, the viewer is invited to experience some of these same physical gestures. Scale of the painting was an important part as well as it makes the viewer experience something that is bigger than themselves, the feeling of sublime as awe, wonder or even terror. Playing around with different materials and extending the paint in form of threads into the exhibition space was a deliberate decision made to create movement and connection, give a symbolism of the infinite connection of the humans and the cosmos, earth and the sky. 

Vivien Zhang’s talk encouraged me to think more deeply about this relationship between the artist’s experience of making and the viewer’s experience of encountering the work. Robert Rauschenberg’s reflection, “Painting tends to remain fixed, to be made out of its external materials. The idea of having your own body and its activity as a material is really tempting,” (Tate, 2026) also opened new thoughts. It makes me consider the body, its gestures and movements as extensions of the material and creative process.

I am also interested in how Katharina Grosse activates space, encouraging viewers to move through and reconsider their relationship with painting. Her practice challenges the boundaries between painting, architecture and the environment, making the space itself an extension of the painted surface. Her work particularly encourages me to take risks in my own practice, especially in relation to scale, occupying and owning the space, experimenting boldly with colour and being unapologetic in my artistic decisions. I am drawn to the confidence with which she allows painting to expand beyond its conventional boundaries, taking over entire environments. Scale, texture, colour and spatial relationships thus become important tools in constructing an experience of active looking.

Space, in fact, is a recurring aspect in my practice. Whether it is literal interplay of negative and positive space, symbolic sacred space, the space created through colour, the space of emptiness or the space of active looking, I am interested in how space can be experienced, occupied and transformed.

I also find a connection with Ksenia Dermenzhi’s description of her practice as developing through the slow construction and dissolution of the image, where painting is concerned with emergence rather than resolution. Forms remain in a continual state of becoming, appearing and disappearing through their interaction with the material and the painted surface. This resonates with my own approach to making: trusting the process, allowing things to unfold and learning to live with uncertainty. Rather than working towards a predetermined image or outcome, I am interested in what emerges through the act of painting itself.

Perhaps this uncertainty is also something I want the viewer to encounter. Just as I navigate the unknown while making, I want the viewer to experience a sense of discovery, movement and openness when engaging with the work. 

This act of “active” making and looking is also connected to tantra. Like, in my spiritual scapes drawings I am trying to build fields where conscious aware action takes place, both in making and looking. With embodied gestures, these drawings are activated as I blow breath into fluid paint, touch the surface with my fingers and splatter paint or glitter with the energy within. It is a process of channelling the energy with-in to flow with-out. The viewer, in turn, completes this cycle of inward and outward energy flow through the physical act of turning the pages, encountering the surfaces and engaging with the interplay of positive and negative space.

This makes me think about the works of Sohan Qadri and Trishla Jain. Qadri once said “A synthesis of emptiness and peace, radiating power is what I am trying to do. Art can have the same effect as meditation, but only if we drop our constantly interpretating mind and learn to simply see . . . This can happen if you grasp the painting at a subliminal level, let it filter in through your pores.” He continues, “when I start a painting, first I empty my mind of all images. They dissolve into a primordial space. Only emptiness should communicate with the emptiness of the canvas” (Kuspit and Tagore, 2004) With this similar approach I practice to quieten the analytical calculative monkey-mind and surrender myself to the process. Similarly, Trishla Jain describes her practice as a meditative journey, drawing on ancient techniques of conscious breathing and counting breaths to remain grounded in the present moment. 

Art and the Sacred, a way of Self-reflection

जीवन एक लीला है, और हम सब बस कुछ देर के लिए यहाँ हैं ।

“Life is a cosmic or divine play, and we all are here for a little while.”

Looking deeper into life as Leela – a cosmic or divine play, a kind of playground, has opened new abstract visual possibilities within my practice. I find myself increasingly responding to this philosophy rooted in the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, a sacred dialogue between two lovers – Shiva and Shakti, between masculine and feminine energies, consciousness and creation. Within this dialogue lies the understanding that divine consciousness and human consciousness are not separate; there is ultimately no duality between the self and the cosmos.

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra provides 112 meditations or techniques to realise oneself or attain “love”. In explanation to Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Osho says “दो के बीच में ठहर जाओ, आनंद को प्राप्त होजाओगे।”- that in all the meditations only one thing has to be practiced- to be centred, to be aware and not flow with dualities.

Osho says the word tantra means a method or path. It is a method concerned with the “how” of things and not of “why” of things. He says tantra is not intellectual, rather an experience, and the experience not just demand the involvement of mind, but the total being. This explanation of tantra made me reflect on my “process-led” approach to making and creating visual imagery. The process becomes a ritual, a meditative act which eventually leads to something. This act of making is similar to tantra, i.e. doing is knowing. I am interested in creating through process, through action, and engaging my body as I create. Like, giving physical form to my breathing, my pulse or my heart beating, or the sound of the silence. The gaps as my breath goes in and out. I try to observe these dualities and cater myself as I paint. This involves spontaneous mark making or at times slow repetition of strokes. 

This inquiry led me to research overlapping symbols, rituals, and visual languages across religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. I became fascinated by how these traditions, despite their differing forms and vocabularies, often communicate the same essential message of love, devotion, surrender, and connection.

In Art and the Sacred, Sister Wendy suggests that religious art may or may not be spiritual, and is often recognisable through its iconography. Spiritual art, however, is understood through its inner power and experiential resonance. She further proposes that beyond the spiritual lies the sacred, art that enables us to know not through faith alone, but through direct felt experience. It evokes a sense of the sublime: stillness, silence, weight, majesty, and presence. These ideas deeply resonate with my own artistic concerns and my desire to create immersive spaces that move beyond representation into experience.

Similarly, in Burckhardt, T. (2001) Sacred Art in East and West: Its Principles and Methods, importance is given to symbolism and the metaphysical relationship between the artist and creation. The text suggests that just as God manifests within maya while simultaneously expressing and concealing Himself, the artist too reveals aspects of their inner being through the act of creation. Art becomes a reflection of hidden depths, an outward manifestation of an inward spiritual reality. 

This leads to the artist being a vehicle or medium for the creation. As mentioned in mentioned in Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future (Bashkoff, 2018) – Art often arrives through inspiration, as something received rather than entirely constructed. In moments of intense inspiration, the question arises whether the artist truly creates the artwork, or whether the artist becomes merely a vehicle through which something greater passes.

Through this research I started creating spiritual scapes that attempts to give form to the intangible and the numinous; a sacred experience that moves beyond the boundaries of organised religion and instead approaches spirituality as something universal and experiential.

I feel that my artistic practice is, in many ways, autobiographical. It is an exploration of my inner conflicts, a journey through uncertainty, and perhaps a way of guiding myself towards the light. My paintings become a form of journaling, where I imprint my thoughts, emotions and energies onto the surface. In this process of journaling, words gradually dissolve, and what remains are colours, lines, textures and forms. What I experience internally begins to manifest externally. The energy within flows outwards. I cannot hide; perhaps there is nothing to hide. As discussed in the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, “These dualities are never-ending. The aim is to be non-dual, to be one, to be whole” (Chaudhri, 2008) These inner conflicts of confusion and clarity, suffering and bliss, the constant up and down between dualities and the search for a centre, all find their way onto the surface. 

Yet, I also feel that what “I” experience is universal. As stated in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad “Aham Brahmasmi” which means “I am the universe” expands to the non-dual philosophy, stating that individual soul (atman) is not separate from the universal reality (Brahman). These internal struggles, anxieties and moments of joy are not mine alone; they are part of the shared human experience. Perhaps it is this universality of suffering and longing that makes us human. We are constantly searching for that fleeting experience of bliss, a sweet state we have tasted at some point in our lives and continue to seek. Or are we that bliss and we have forgotten it? Through my practice, I attempt to embrace this vulnerability, allowing myself to be raw and open as I navigate feelings of anxiety, loneliness, confusion, love, surrender and joy. My paintings become traces of this ongoing spiritual journey.

As my guru Shri Prabhat Agarwal says, “The path is the destination, and the destination is the path.” This thought is significant to my practice, as the act of making is as important as the final work. Perhaps there is no fixed destination to arrive at, but rather a mysterious and mystical journey of experiencing, questioning, discovering and surrendering. 

I often find myself reflecting on a thought commonly attributed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Am I a human being having spiritual experiences, or a spiritual being having human experiences? At times, being human feels like the ultimate reality, the only truth I know. Yet, at other times, the human world feels like an illusion, a fleeting dream, a playground where I am simply playing my part in the cosmic play, or Leela. 

Osho in his lectures mention “Each song of the bird, and each cloud floating in the sky, is something like a message, a coded message. You have to decode it, you have to look deep into it; you have to be silent and listen to the message” (Osho, 2014). At times, this sense of otherworldliness becomes difficult to comprehend. I find myself questioning whether all I am meant to do is float, flow and surrender to this cosmic play. I continually attempt to dissolve the “I”, the ego that seeks to control, understand and define everything, and instead allow myself to flow with what is unfolding, trusting in what is meant to be. Perhaps the journey is not about finding an answer, but about learning to exist within this uncertainty, embracing the paradox of being both human and spiritual.

In many ways, my artistic practice becomes a space for this dissolution. Through repetitive gestures, intuitive movements and the uncertainty of materials, I attempt to move beyond conscious control towards a state of surrender. Painting becomes not only a means of expressing my spiritual journey, but a way of experiencing it.

It is through the process of making that I continue to question, lose myself, find myself and perhaps, momentarily, experience a sense of oneness.

References

• Bashkoff, T. (ed.) (2018) Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future. New York, NY: Guggenheim Museum Publications.
• Beckett, W. (1992) Sister Wendy Beckett on Art and the Sacred. London: Rider.
• Brasket, D.J. (2013) ‘The Art of Sohan Qadri – Tapping into the Unconscious’, Deborah J. Brasket, Author, 9 June. Available at: https://deborahjbrasket.com/2013/06/09/the-art-of-sohan-qadri/
• Burckhardt, T. (2001) Sacred Art in East and West: Its Principles and Methods. Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae
• Chaudhri, R. (2008) Vigyan Bhairava Tantra: 112 meditations for self-realization. New Delhi: Prakash Books India Pvt. Ltd. Available at: https://worldpeaceyogaschool.com/books/vigyan-bhairava-tantra.pdf
• Dermenzhi, K. (n.d.) About. Available at: https://www.kseniadermenzhi.com/about (Accessed: 4 August 2026).
• Domestika (n.d.) ‘Hilma af Klint: The Fascinating Story of an Abstract Art Pioneer’, Domestika Blog. Available at: https://www.domestika.org/en/blog/6019-hilma-af-klint-the-fascinating-story-of-an-abstract-art-pioneer
• Dyer, W.W. (1989) You’ll See It When You Believe It: The Way to Your Personal Transformation. New York: William Morrow.
• Henderson, L.D. (1972) Sacred Symbols. London: Thames and Hudson.
• Kuspit, D.B. and Tagore, S. (eds.) (2004) Seeker: The Art of Sohan Qadri. New York: Mapin Publishing.
• Louisiana Channel (2021) Katharina Grosse Interview: On the Edge of Something Else. YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/IGmP-66Yyiw (Accessed: 25 October 2026).
• Nair, V. (2023) Osho’s insight on ‘Vigyan Bhairav Tantra’. International Journal of Education, Modern Management, Applied Science & Social Science (IJEMMASSS), 5(4), pp. 22–28. Available at: https://www.inspirajournals.com/uploads/Issues/1694081667.pdf
• Osho (2014) The Path of Love: Understanding That Nothing Is Perfect in Life. New York: Osho Media International.
• Prabhat Agarwal (n.d.) ‘Love’, in The Last Centre
• Rawson, P. (1973) Tantra: The Indian Cult of Ecstasy. London: Thames and Hudson.
• Serpentine (2026) Cecily Brown: Picture Making. Serpentine South Gallery, London, 27 March–6 September. Available at: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/cecily-brown-picture-making/ (Accessed: 2 October 2026).
• Swami Sivananda (2017) The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: Sanskrit Text, English Translation and Commentary. 3rd edn. Shivanandanagar: The Divine Life Society.
• Tate (2026) ARTIST ROOMS: Robert Rauschenberg. Tate Modern, London.
• Zhang, V. (n.d.) Available at: https://www.vivienzhang.com/works.html (Accessed: 24 October 2026).

About the author

Anshika Gauri Agrawal (b. 2002) is an Indian artist based in London. Her work explores the themes of spirituality through painting, printmaking and drawing.

Website – https://anshikagauriagrawal.com

Instagram – @anshikaarth