Whatsoever you see creates its echo within you, and in some deep sense you become like that which you see.
Osho
About
“When I look at Meera’s paintings, it is as if they want to call me forth from my limited vision of the world into another world, where all limits dissolve for our ordinary senses, like a call of freedom! I have known her paintings for so many years, but never ever have I felt, ‘Oh, this one I know!’ Every time they appear to be completely new.” Premendra
Premendra was born in Cologne, Germany, in 1957. From 1975 to 1978, he studied photography and anthropology. In 1980, he started a carpentry shop in Cologne. On various travels throughout Germany, he acquainted himself with the various carpentry styles and approaches in this country — without staying in one place, however — which is the prerequisite for a “recognized” training. He became interested in the Japanese way of working with wood.
From 1983 onward he lived for several years in Osho´s communes, mainly doing carpentry work. In 1998, he stopped working with wood and became a graphic designer for the German Osho Times, where he remained responsible for the art work until 2008. Since 2008, he has been working as a freelance photographer and graphic designer. In 2010, he started the “Meera Art Print Project”, traveling around the world and creating state-of-the-art prints of the paintings of Meera. Meera´s digital archive now comprises near about 1.900 of her paintings, covering everything she did since 1973. 2015 he moved to Sapporo, Japan.
The Beginnings
By the end of 2009, Premendra was able to satisfy his heart’s desire of long-standing: to be able to manufacture high value reproductions of Meera’s paintings. How did this come about?
“I have one of Meera’s paintings at home which I love very much, but can’t put on the wall anymore, since its colors have faded much through the impact of the sunlight. With this exquisite painting I could witness the aging process over a stretch of just 25 years; it became paler and paler to the point of being almost unrecognizable. I had already been looking around whether and how it is possible to slow down this sometimes rapid decay.
“I was often musing if it wouldn’t be nice if more than just a handful of people were able to enjoy Meera’s paintings in their original freshness and powerful expressiveness. They would easily balance the majority of contemporary art, which generally just makes me feel sick. Many modern artists merely express the madness of our society, calling it art, while arrogantly despising those who in this day and age can still seek beauty and silence in art.
“I do not imply that these modern artists have no passion and originality. Artists are highly sensitive people, intelligent and dying to break away from all the mediocrity around. Often, however, their fine antennas are tuned to the collective madness of society and the lack of any meditation experience makes them prisoners of the common social values and norms.
“To me, Meera is far removed from that ‘normal’ art. On the contrary, her paintings mirror her deep love for life.”
A few travel photos
