Style and Subject Matter
My initial Roman mosaics were pure replicas of the classical. However, as my practice progressed, in the subsequent mosaics, I began to introduce subtle style twists—allowing myself to experiment beyond the strict conventions of this ancient art form. In addition to replacing the classical colours, I substituted a multitude of modern materials, of varied textures, that caught light differently. This technique gave a new dimension to these ancient treasures of art, thereby further enriching their perpetual appeal.
With the success of these experiments, my creativity flowered and found a new radiance. I wanted to slowly bend these classical rules, combining them with the style of contemporary mosaicists. I wanted to represent my experienced inspirational moments, and the emotions they evoked, through innovative mosaic techniques. The intention was to convert the spiritual and cosmic forces I felt into a visual rhythm one could see. My art was striving to find a new stylistic thrust.
Through sustained experimentation, I started finding my own style that allowed form to vibrate rather than remain contained. Movement entered the work as rhythm—carried through expanding fields, directional flow, and subtle shifts in surface. Technique entered my mosaics. Moreover, technique itself was no longer fixed across mosaics; it became responsive to the subject being portrayed.
This phase represented a significant development in my stylistic expression. Although the structure remained present, it was no longer dominant. Employment of technique facilitated the fluid expression of energy, emotion, and becoming.
The subject matters I explore in my mosaics have emerged from inspirational moments I have experienced in my life. On a comprehensive level, these subjects move across the spiritual, the cosmic, the emotional and the natural world. My engagement with these inspirational moments is not illustrative but experiential. Inner landscapes such as emotional states of contemplation, devotion and renewal are expressed through various techniques.
The outer world finds expression through themes such as the generative force of the universe.
Expanding fields, wave patterns, radiating lines, and organic movements echo celestial order. Rhythmic repetitions and flows are used as visual instruments that guide the eye inward. Distinct lines and intentional flows, whether they be linear, curved, converging or diverging, guide the viewer’s eye through a quiet directional choreography, shaping how each fragment participates in the whole composition. These directional rhythms become a form of expression in themselves, allowing movement, energy, and emotion to unfold across the surface.
By bringing these techniques into mosaic, I aim to offer the viewer a sense of peace and quiet joy: a gentle recognition of belonging within something larger, where material, form, flow and light converge into a contemplative presence.
As my practice has matured, style has never been separate from meaning. Each formal choice—whether contour, rhythm, radiance, or movement—responds directly to the subject, allowing the mosaic to become an embodied experience of joy, devotion, motion, or of becoming.
In my early works, I embraced the Roman principle of single and double line contouring to bring clarity and stillness to form. This approach is visible in traditional motifs such as Tree of Light and Tree of Stillness, where measured outlines and balanced spacing support themes of rootedness and inner calm. As my engagement shifted toward energy and movement, my technique evolved accordingly.
In When Galaxies Embrace, I arranged the tesserae in rotational fields, with radiating lines that suggest cosmic rotation and a simultaneous outward flow. Here, compositional movement mirrors the subject itself, allowing the viewer to experience the dynamism of the universe through rhythm rather than static representation. The natural world offers another language of movement.
In Wings Across the Himalayas, upward-climbing lines and angled tesserae carry the flock across mountain forms, their ascent cutting through implied strong winds. Radiating lines and rising wave-like rhythms convey resilience and collective momentum, allowing movement to become the narrative.
In works exploring spiritual union, such as The Embrace of Shiva–Shakti, contours soften and dissolve into fluid wave patterns and interwoven fields of movement. Radiating parallel lines and subtle shifts in surface allow light to animate the form, expressing a sense of expansion and quiet uplift.
In As the Soul Begins to Sing, the transcendent joy seeks expression. it emerges through rhythmic flow, expanding fields, wave patterns, and light-responsive surfaces. Movement is felt and the mosaic begins to breathe, allowing joy to be felt intuitively rather than described.
My inner world is shaped by spiritual motifs, cosmic imagination, and the paths of ancient wisdom. As I move forward, I wish to weave this inner Indian consciousness with nature’s own designs—those etched into the bark of ancient banyan trees, the delicate networks of gulmohar petals, the hidden architectures within marble, and the shifting forms of monsoon-laden skies. The hanging bunches of jacaranda flower bunches are awaiting to be translated into my mosaics as falling constellations of tesserae— echoing the way nature itself composes through repetition and rhythm while still incorporating variation.
These motifs, deeply rooted in the Indian ethos, carry the memory of this land within them. By drawing from them, I seek to let my work speak from an inner Indian sensibility—where imagination, nature, and cultural memory converge into an Indian-ness of feeling.