Nicolas Dalton

“Sutra 3. The universe is manifold because of the differentiation of reciprocally adapted objects and subjects.” from Pratyabhijnahrdayam: The Secret of Self-recognition. I returned to the visual arts during the Pandemic after a twenty year break to teach Svaroopa yoga. The complexity of the times, because of Covid and political turmoil, made me feel a deep need to explore simplicity. I started by filling up notebooks with line drawings of basic shapes, squares, triangles, circles, etc., exploring the seeming inevitability of time and space. In December of 2021 I found a lovely studio space in the heart of Hudson where I could commit fully to bringing the work out of the notebooks and into larger drawings (Charcoal and Conte crayons) and paintings (Acrylic).

Because nothing ever remains simple, I set basic, somewhat arbitrary, rules from which to build series of related paintings/drawings. A rule can be as simple as, for instance, using only two colors. The friction from these constraints allows me to explore, learn, and build from one painting to the next until I reach a point where the rules have to be broken in order to continue. When too many rules are broken, it’s most likely time for a new series. For me, art is the process of recreating the universe from the inside out, an exploration of the endless “reciprocal adaptation” between the painting and itself, the painting and the painter and, ultimately, the painting and you the viewer. I live with my wife and two sons in Taghkanic and continue to teach Svaroopa yoga online.