Eighteen Years, One Symbol.
What does it mean for an artist to return to a single subject for nearly two decades? Dr Gnana painted his first cow in 2007, and the motif has since become a recurring anchor in his journey.
When an artist like Dr Gnana draws from childhood memories, it transforms a personal experience into a universal symbol, uncovering both personal and cultural meanings that merge into universal themes of nurturing, patience, and continuity. For an artist, collecting symbolism from childhood means preserving those formative impressions that shaped their emotional world. From assisting his mother as a caregiver for cattle to translating it into art that becomes a memory of care, intimacy, and rootedness in everyday life. Dr Gnana is not only painting an animal but also painting the cultural environment of his upbringing. Depicting the cow is a symbol that carries layered meaning across personal, cultural, and universal realms. This lingering memory of the cow is noted as an obsession that transforms into devotion, leading to fueling creativity.
One may ask, what makes Dr Gnana’s recurring cow motif powerful rather than redundant? The repetition of the cow is not mere recurrence, but a way of deepening intimacy with the subject. By painting it again and again, he transforms the cow from a singular memory into an evolving language. Variation introduces freshness through a shift in tone, gesture or palette, offering new emotional registers. Through a rhythm of repetition and variation, the process itself becomes a form of meditation. For Dr Gnana, the act of painting the cow is not about reaching an end, but about dwelling in the presence of memory, culture, and meaning. This triad of repetition, variation, and meditation creates depth and mastery, allowing the motif to grow beyond the personal into something enduring, layered, and universally resonant.
In art history, repetition has often been a way for artists to deepen their inquiry. One may recall Andy Warhol’s serial silkscreens of Marilyn Monroe, where the act of reiteration transformed the ordinary into the iconic. Similarly, in India, temple sculptures and miniature paintings repeatedly depict gods, animals, and motifs not as mere duplication but as ritual affirmation. Dr Gnana’s cow paintings belong to this lineage of repetition, where the act of painting again is an act of reverence.
Dr Gnana painted his first cow in 2007 and continues exploring it as a subject to date. No two paintings are the same, and in this difference lies the unfolding of the meaning. Sometimes the form is vibrant, sometimes solemn, sometimes monumental in scale, other times intimate and lyrical. Through shifts in colour, composition, and gesture, Dr Gnana resists stagnation, reminding us that even with sameness, there is endless possibility.
In Indian culture, the cow has long been cherished as a nurturing presence. For Dr Gnana, the cow is not only a childhood memory but also a vessel of spiritual meaning. It embodies gentleness, abundance, and sustenance, qualities that extend beyond the physical into the metaphysical. Every painting of the cow becomes a way of honouring the sacred balance between humans, animals, and nature. The cow in these works functions as a reminder of interconnectedness and reverence. It carries the artist back to his roots while also reaching outward, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and recognise the quiet holiness in the ordinary. What began as a childhood memory of care and feeding transforms, in Dr Gnana’s hands, into a symbol of universal compassion.
