Nature in Watercolour
Azri Alwi shares the inspiration behind his paintings, and how nature and art connect us to the essence of being human.
How do I paint the sigh of the ocean as it meets the shore? Or the cathartic vastness of the sky? Or the gentle grace of a gliding turtle? I patiently watch as the strokes show me, and I am left in awe.
In painting, I am required to find the delicate balance between control and trust. This is especially true in my current exploration of watercolour landscapes, where expressing a gentle subject matter requires a gentle handling of the medium. I draw much of my inspiration from nature. It is subtle in its presence and patient in waiting to be noticed, a far cry from the jarring world of machines and advertisements that distracts us as a society today.
My love for nature came early in my life. As a young boy I was exposed to the ocean, often looking towards the horizon in the day and gazing up into the stars with my family at night. I also spent a fair amount of time at the library sating my curiosity about the world below the waves. Years later, I picked up scuba diving, where I was able to witness that world in a direct and immersive way. Experience and knowledge planted a sense of wonder deep in my heart and has since permeated the way I perceive the world around me. There is so much beauty if only we cared to look.
Painting is my attempt at continuing this transmission of beauty. Just as how it has reached me through nature, I hope that it can reach someone else through my work. The subject matter at times directly draws from my experience of beauty, resulting in quiet, contemplative scenes near the shore. Sometimes, it can be more dramatic and dreamlike, like a manta ray triumphantly soaring through the clouds. At other times, the subject matter itself could be observation and awe, represented by a lone figure in the midst of vast, rolling landscapes. Though the works differ in terms of subject matter, they stem from the same sense of awe for beauty.
Art has the incredible potential to communicate essences. In an age obsessed with labels and definitions, where words are confused to be synonymous with their meanings, art has the capacity to connect with intimate aspects of our being. It skips the intermediaries of formal language and can speak directly from the heart of the discerning craftsman to the soul of the receptive viewer. The pen might be mightier than the sword, but a picture paints a thousand words.
Azri Alwi is the artist behind AKAR’s logo. Azri is a painter whose way of seeing is guided by both his head and his heart.