Ashura Tree by Henry Bismuth is on 2 linen panels. The statue of Ashura is one of the most popular in Buddhism and is the only one of its kind in the world. It is a Japanese sculpture of one of eight categories of beings. This one is very specific because it has been influenced by Indian mythology. Ashura is one of the protectors of the Law of Buddha. He is represented with 3 faces and 6 arms. He is a young man and on the two sides one sees even younger faces. This statue is a very beautiful piece and one that he is obsessed by.Ashura with his 6 arms overlooks the tree with its 6 most important branches. It is a sycamore tree, which is one of Henry’s favorites to paint.Then even though the link here between Ashura and the tree underneath is more obvious than in any of his other paintings with multiple images, it epitomizes the perfect example of his way of painting.A few years ago, Henry asked himself how painting could evolve. He realized that we are constantly bombarded by images – advertising, posters, magazines, television - with one inexorably replacing the one before. To retain an image, it had to be a very strong one. Very few images have this capacity. The question became “what is painting and why only one image.” So because we think of different things at the same time, he decided to paint different images in the same painting.
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