“A visionary of the real”

Powell’s paintings of Asia have as their subject matter existing buildings and objects, reconstructions of historical structures, and imagined places and artifacts, all inspired by the richness of pre- and post-modern Asian worlds. The origin of architecture was not only as shelter but was more importantly the ritual demarcation of sacred space; this transcendence of the profane is the underlying theme of Powell’s work. It can be obvious in the depiction of temples and religious structures or it can be just an atmosphere, a feeling, a sense of meaning beyond the detailed tangible “reality” floating on the paper. It is the very concreteness of the images that enables this feeling of “depth” to occur.

This concreteness comes from a long and sympathetic familiarity with the sources of his imagery: the interlinked cultures of Asia and their material expression.

For Powell, traditional architecture is of necessity the concentrated expression of a culture’s needs. It embodies the particular environmental, economic, religious and social requirements of its makers and yet it remains universally recognizable as shelter, protection and symbol. Through a building’s material, tactile and ritual presence a deep sense of place is evoked and the mystery of everyday life is revealed. His paintings of buildings and artifacts attempt to capture that power of even modest man-made structures to transform mundane shelter into sacred enclosure. As cultural diversity shrinks his work hopes to celebrate its survival.

Michael O’Sullivan, The Washington Post, February 14, 1999 “…he draws them (buildings) in such an animistic way that their walls heave with breath and flush with feeling, despite the superficial formality of Powell’s subject matter….Powell’s striking painting (Blood of the Ogress, Drakmar) does more than merely document. Under his treatment the tortuous face of the hill itself howls in agony….Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” is not more fraught with emotion. In these apparently inert structures Powell is able to visualize… a reality beyond the physical that can be known only through intuition and not through the senses. This is the artist’s real gift –the skill he exhibits in capturing something that lies beyond what can be seen. It is a skill that surpasses even his obsessive technical proficiency.”

Michael Oppitz, Page 122, Robert Powell Himalayan Drawings, Zurich, 2001 “Powell’s drawings and paintings produce a material presence of the objects they depict; they radiate plasticity and physical sensuousness; they therefore seem predetermined to represent natural and fabricated objects; their craftsmanship is close to the craftsmanship of the objects they depict. They can be detached from the natural conditions in which their motifs are bound; they can isolate, single out, decontextualise… they can take imaginary viewpoints. This makes drawings capable of conceptual idealization and abstraction; of visually presenting symbolical signification; of depicting reality beyond realism; of transcending.”

West Bengal, India - click for enlarged gallery image

Robert Powell (b.1948 Sydney) studied humanities and architecture in Australia. He came to Asia in 1974 and was in India when Ladakh was opened to foreigners for the first time. He spent seven months there documenting its Tibetan architecture. That experience instilled a lifelong desire to explore Asian cultures and to be inspired by their material manifestation, especially their vernacular architectures. Since then he has lived and worked in Asia for more than 30 years, mostly in the Himalayas, in Nepal, India, Pakistan, Japan and China.

Since 2004 he has been based in Thailand and is presently developing, among other projects, a series of paintings from Angkor, Cambodia. More than 30 recent drawings are currently included in the large scale exhibition of Shaman’s drums, Trommeln der Schamanan, at the Ethnographic Museum, Zurich, november 2007 to august 2008.

His work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world: Paris, Kyoto, Kathmandu, Washington DC, London, New York, Zurich, Hong Kong. And is the subject of two books and numerous articles in journals and newspapers.(see list of exhibitions and publications).

Angkor