KAZE NO IRO: Ruwan Prasanna

Bathed in deep azure, rich yellows and lush greens, Kaze no Iro is Ruwan Prasanna’s ode to the fickle, and unpredictable nature of wind. Prasanna’s uplifting palette captures the buoyant mood evoked by the passing wind as it jostles playfully, on its route to an undefined destination. The series is a celebration of the transient phenomenon of nature that makes itself visible as it ruffles tree leaves into wakefulness and stirs up dust to cause a commotion. 

Kaze no Iro conjures the reckless and breathtaking beauty of the wind - gentle and caressing yet fiercely powerful. Carrying the sweet scent of spring on its breeze or the heralding of the incoming storm as it twists the palm groves into a frenzy, it is an occurrence of nature that inspires awe. Imagined through its many incarnations, the series explores the poetry spun through the interaction of the wind with the natural realm - as it shifts in its form between a gentle breeze and an untamed gale. 

The artist’s rhythmic brushstrokes wind into spirals that escape away from the canvas. The limitations of the frame give way to the immense rush of wind - dissolving into an illusion of expanse. The series presents a creative progression in the artist’s signature haptic, gestural brushwork as he experiments with movement and colour to overwhelm and inspire astonishment. Prasanna builds on the scintillating play of colours from Aluyama, his previous exhibition, to picture the evanescent traces made by the wind. It invites the viewer to follow the trajectory of the colour and move along with it.

Kaze no Iro is an attempt to memorialise nature’s intangibility onto canvas and to relive its enchanting beauty. The artist’s attempt to make invisible forms of nature more perceptible presents a longing to reconnect with nature and revel in the magnificent spectacles it offers. The engagement with the ephemeral becomes a way to cajole our senses into recalling brief, inexplicable exchanges with nature - one that offers a temporary respite from the chaos of urbanity and makes us seek refuge in nature’s healing embrace.