When the Light Touches… Samarpan
When the Light Touches shares some memories of Samarpan Elwin’s creative journey and launch of his Retrospective Full Emptiness, 47 Years of Living Art at Tony Raka Art Gallery on June 14th 2025.
Samarpan Elwin is a German contemporary artist with studios based in Germany and Bali. Born in Cologne, Germany, in 1953 and studied at the College of Art and Design, Cologne, 1975-80. And in 1981, after further examinations, he was awarded the title “Master Scholar”. He was first employed in the printing industry and then went on to study graphic design and onto art school. He worked for 2 years doing etchings, and then later he delved into painting and 3-dimensional art; however, his first love was drawing. The book launched at Tony Raka Gallery on 14th June 2025, Full Emptiness, 47 Years of Living Art is a 250-page retrospective of his artworks representing the chapters of his life.
The MORNING
A sunny morning with hangovers. There was no projector pointer, so the funny guy was late. The mic got lost, and there was no time for a florist stop. Two coffees too short, headaches dancing happily.. inhale, exhale, two double shots to the rescue. Take the croissant whilst the butter takes the shirt… Breathe in, breathe out or cry.. Luckily, he wasn’t grumpy on the street. This paints the morning.
The AFTERNOON
Raining on our sunny mood. Smiling.. a beautiful song crashes a party. Warm hugs and sentiments whilst a gorgeous book fell on someone’s head, indeed a heavy book. Happy cries without tears.. for a presentation, well lit and clear. An artist and his witness talked. The whole room witnessed. Luminous conversations lingered between new dimensions. Coffee unlimited, though the bites are limited… whilst pretty flowers from other florists posed around the room. Thankful for cameras working, with mics from someone else. A man was stuck in a bathroom, and a locksmith named Tony came to the rescue. This is after Noon.
The In-Between
In between is a different story. Hopefully, one that makes articulate yet absurd sense. It celebrates 47 years of the creative adventures of an artist true to never having a map. Every corner a surprise, every clear pathway a trigger for the next unknown. If one has read the words of Samarpan, the opening of this article makes a lot of sense. If you have not read the words of Samarpan, then please forgive the beginning of this article.
“When I had no words to say, I needed words for the speech. When I had the words prepared, I did not have to say them. This is the fun of the day. So I will say it here. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this team. To work together on this project, Samarpan Full Emptiness, 47 Years of Living Art. And not forgetting the special congratulations to Samarpan and Akasha for their 40 years of togetherness of travelling together on their life journey.” ~ManButur
A Retrospective, an ICE BERG…
A retrospective of any kind is usually only ever successful in giving even less than the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. How do you summarise the journey so full of many intangible things? Feelings, memories, breakthroughs and breakdowns.. the gift of the artist is an inexplicable compulsion of creation. Through which we have a different type of truth journal. Indecipherable even to ourselves sometimes. In the privacy of one’s inner, boundless world, this does not need to make sense to anyone else. However, as an artist, when these creations are displayed, their fate is to be under scrutiny. Laying one’s inner world open means you relinquish your most inner privacy.
We get more than just the tip of the iceberg in this retrospective. Through the shared stories from Akasha. As a life partner and travel buddy, most intimately connected to Samarpan’s inner world, her insights provide a little more. A lot more. More than just analysis.
Akasha shares the ‘living’ of the ‘art’. The handprints of all life’s ups and downs through the stories of a travelling witness. Akasha highlights some pivotal key moments and works of her husband’s journey in this presentation.
When the Light Touches… I’ve always felt that artworks are like mysterious windows, from which you can gain insights into different worlds, perhaps we should say dimensions. There, you can connect to feelings, memories, and experiences, like a magical portal connecting what seem to be random moments of time and identities together. Putting aside the lyrical beauty of perfect absurdities,.. my main takeaways are this..
The LARVAE and the BUTTERFLIES
Samarpan began viewing the world in black and white. Perhaps things were fenced and boxed. When colour entered his life, light touched his life. As light began to seep into his consciousness, the compositions of his works transformed. From the isolated, floating units on a plain canvas, merging and morphing into otherness. Then, as he explored sculptures and worked outside, the light transformed his inner landscape further. These ‘new dimensions’ are not about defining spaces. They are perhaps a way of trying to capture the oneness he is feeling with the rest of the universe.
a person looks into a mirror until he disappears… and more and more follow him
~Samarpan
Acrylic and oil on canvas 1992.
Even identity is no longer definable. This is reflected even in the reinvention of objects. Redefined, and no longer confined to their use and function from which they were made. He would see objects as something completely different, reborn into something else. Every move away from the conventional physical world was a new dimension to Samarpan.
The FULLNESS of the EMPTINESS
Samarpan’s works seem so simple. When one looks upon these works on the wall, they are luminous forms, flows of colour, yet they seem to emit their inner light source. This simplicity is truly deceptive of the depth he dives into for his creativity. It was once said that Samarpan’s art is spiritual. True devotion to creativity is spiritual. The ‘creative spirit’ moves the artist. Full Emptiness is a testament to the vastness and mystery of the creative spirit, when captured with devotion and is imprinted and witnessed by love.
Excerpt from Full Emptiness
Amongst the inhale and exhale of Samarpan’s process, the surrendering of self to the experience of the whole, it is perhaps in the simplest expressions of his art that the heart of Samarpan is most clear. In the deceptive absurdity of the words that accompany his works and the bare linearity of drawings as economic as shaping a letter. But in this, there is also the profound. A profundity by pure innocence, and still surrender. This duality, paradoxes and frozen moment of senses captured outside of comprehension, only sensation. With humour and most presently now, joy. This is perhaps what lies within the ‘light’. Why, in his studio, the overflowing feeling is of ‘illumination’. 47 years Living Art reflects a journey of self illumination.
Samarpan’s life and work unfold not as a career, but as a continuum of perception, transformation, and surrender. His materials evolve. His techniques shift. But at the centre of it all is a quiet invitation: Look. Feel. Be Lost. For ‘He could not find his ID card, until he forgot ’ ~ Samarpan.
Samarpan Full Emptiness
47 Years Living Art
