Knowing that VWFA featured new batik works by Greek artist Tano, I walked into the space expecting to find some “pretty” fabrics dyed to rainbow perfection. Instead, I found quite the contrary. Tano’s work evokes a world of concepts, undecipherable formulas and theories on time and space. Here, reality and the unknown bewilderingly fuse together through the complex processes of batik.

The Holy Ayahuasca, 2009, Batik (napthol on primissima fabric), 292 x 104 cm

Applying his research on ancient Shamanistic practice and astrophysics, Tano attempts to depict the visions of the Shamans, seen during their psychotropic drug induced trances. Do they truly meet spirit entities and if so, what do they experience beyond our physical, material reality which the ancient Hindus termed as Maya.

According to ancient Hindu philosophy, Maya- a veil of illusion which separates our consciousness from that of the universe can be dissolved through a higher state of enlightenment, through the third eye which enabled the age old mystics to understand the dichotomy between this consciousness and the physical matter.

Tano attempts to lift this veil for the viewer by fusing multiple layers of meaning through intricate and elaborate patterns drenched in deep sumptuous colour tones. Innovating on batik techniques to achieve the desired gradient shades of colour he also uses chlorine, not traditionally used in the process, to bleach away precisely intended patterns to ensure a sharp contrast between dark and light hues. Symbols and geometric patterns from Shamanism and ancient languages are combined to symbolize the heightened state of mind and a psychic map of one realm to another.

Celestial Sound just before the Formation of Pre Human DNA, 2010, Batik (napthol on primissima fabric), 105 x 470 cm

Celestial Sound Just Before the Formation of Pre Human DNA is one such depiction of a symbolic metamorphosis which brings our perception to the very primordial levels of our sense of self and biology. Tones of deep red slowly glow with intensity, interchanging from dark to light while two serpent-like forms thread across the horizontal stretch of the fabric, intertwining and writhing, before our very eyes.

Tano, who has experienced Shaman rituals, explains that upon drinking the Ayahuasca, the plant based psycho-trope brewed in their ancestral fashion; one experiences these visions which are in turn guided by the chanting of the Shaman priest. You are led intrinsically to a realm of innumerable serpents intertwining at the very depths of your being which is meant to be a representation of your DNA at the most primordial level. These same visions, according to Tano, are shared by many individuals from different cultural backgrounds. They meet the same spirit entities such as the serpent, among other animal forms. But how can an artist possibly relay these visions to the viewer who in all probability does not perceive the world through his “third eye”?

During the course of my conversation with the artist, it becomes very clear that in his endeavor to capture intangible elusive concepts onto his canvas, we are naturally, limited by language to describe the inexpressible and the enigmatic. What I see, however, are parallel universes perhaps colliding amidst a galaxy far far away or maybe it’s a convergence of multiple atoms within indecipherable maps with dotted paths across this mindscape worthy of philosophical contemplation.

Robotic Life Forms Lost in Intergalactic Space, 2009, Pencil on paper, 50 x 65 cm

Hesitation Before the Attractor, 2009, Charcoal on somerset paper, 120 x 154 cm

Punctuating the mood in between these vibrant batik works are somber pencil sketches of a post human civilization way into the future; this time in the realm of science fiction. Robotic Life Forms Lost in Intergalactic Space is a drawing depicting a mechanic entity come undone by unseen forces, perhaps, floating into the oblivion of time and space amidst other sketches of what I can only imagine must be wormholes and galactic storms. If the batik works are a peak into our intrinsic existence then these drawings move outwards and externally by imagining a future where the human civilization has long ceased to exist. It is a future in which we have all been enveloped and absorbed by Maya, a possible reality in which everything has become immaterial. It is a future where everything we believe to be true has dissolved into the universe.

The near photo-real quality of Tano’s pencil and charcoal drawings present such intensity between the background and the object in the fore, that it is impossible for the viewer to not get drawn in and be utterly mesmerized: resistance is futile. I caution the viewer to approach the exhibition with an open mind and to look at Tano’s alternate reality, hopefully, without the use of hallucinogens.

Tano: Beyond Reality was shown at Valentine Willie Fine Art from 28 April – 22 May 2010.

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Bharti Lalwani is a freelance writer and curator based in Singapore. She is currently revamping Melt, an ezine on art and is the co-curator for Raw Art Singapore– An exhibition for emerging artists, being held in July 2010.

All images courtesy of Valentine Willie Fine Art