Franck Andre Jamme

Tantra Song: Tantric Painting from Rajasthan

"While they invoke the highly symbolic cosmology of Hindu Tantra, these contemporary, anonymous drawings from Rajasthan are unlike the more familiar strands of Tantric art. The progeny of hand-written, illustrated religious treatises from the 17th century, copied across many generations, these drawings have evolved into a distinct visual lexicon used to awaken heightened states of consciousness."

This painting represents the three gunas or conditions of existence, says Jamme. (In medieval Europe, he notes, black white and red were the three fundamental colors in alchemy.) "Here, in the form of small candles, each has its own capacity to illuminate."

Jamme says this is a "meditation on the possible and necessary balance of things."

The last plate in the book ends with this summation from Jamme: "The purer the consciousness, the bluer and clearer the sky."

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