“Anonymous Tantra Paintings”: These small paintings on found paper are made anonymously in India (especially in Rajasthan) by practitioners of tantraism, some of whom are artists, to represent and embody fundamental aspects of Tantra, a vast and complex spiritual and philosophical practice. Viewing or meditating on these reductive and essential images stimulates specific mental and / or spiritual experiences that are part of its teachings. While the images are centuries old with highly codified forms and colors, the paintings are packed with such a high level of the artists’ intentionality that they continually appear fresh and alive. Despite their didactic function, they also have a history of being coveted as decorative objects and abstract art both in India and in the West. Feature Inc. began exhibiting these anonymous Tantra paintings 1998, as a result of the gallery’s research into contemporary Indian artists and art.

“Connected” is a concurrent exhibition of works on paper by five artists not represented by Feature Inc., all of whom have had their work influenced by their experiences with the type of Tantra paintings that the gallery has been exhibiting – there are also other Tantra paintings that are stylistically very different. The five artists are: Ben Berlow, Mel Bernstine, Léonie Guyer, Bobbie Oliver, Sherman Sam.