Between Motives And Motifs

Then there is the art of protest바카라�cautionary records of humankind바카라�s egregiousness, of the displacement of ideals. The anti-clerical ghouls and idiot monarchs of Francisco Goya condemn the social and moral rot in Spain, his 바카라�disasters of war바카라� series are a systematic impeachment of militarism, and A Military Execution in 1808 is the first great anti-war picture. Over a hundred years later, his countryman Pablo Picasso was to express much the same in Guernica (1937)바카라�the howling, cowering, contorted mass of sufferers a lasting testament to the brutal destruction of the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War. In India, Chittoprosad Bhattacharya바카라�s paintings of of the Bengal famine바카라�often done for journals of the Communist Party of India, often in spare pencil, brush and ink바카라�are a horrific record of death, decay and indignity.

The first decades of the 20th century saw the Bengal school in intense cogitation over the direction of Indian art바카라�how to evolve an Indian idiom that broke from the representational reality of Western academic painting, yet was eclectic and open. They did so with a refined 바카라�revivalism바카라�바카라�going back to Mughal miniatures and Ajanta frescoes (and thematically to Indian mythology), but also to Japanese wash techniques. The Bombay school sought to forge its own indigeneity too.

Indian artists, inevitably, responded to the freedom struggle. Jamini Roy forsook his individualistic style and, as a radical critic of colonialism, embraced the utopia of his 바카라�pata바카라�-inspi­red 바카라�primitive바카라� style. Nandalal Bose바카라�s frescoes in Santiniketan were a meld of traditions바카라�from Rajasthan, Tibet and Bengal to that of China and Japan. These were cast in a nationalist mould in the posters and murals Nandalal did for the 1938 Congress session in Haripura, Gujarat. They depict common folk, artisans, musicians, farmers in scenes from village life바카라�the Gandhian바카라�s tribute to the Mahatma바카라�s vision of an ideal, traditional village life containing the real soul of India.

The stage, finally, was set for the first generation of postcolonial artists who had their creativity dipped in a deep sense of national idealism and yet were primarily inspired by Western modernism. The Progressive Artists Group in Bombay was founded in 1947 by F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain, K.H. Ara and H.A. Gade. Their commitment to their credo바카라�a concern for 바카라�significant form바카라�바카라�to the utter disregard of the 바카라�market바카라� is legendary. So are their process-driven, provocative canvases. They were pure artists and lived as such바카라�when Krishen Khanna left his comfortable bank job and chose to work full-time as an artist, his friends, Husain and Raza, held a celebratory dinner in Paris. Acclaim came after a long, hard apprenticeshp before the easel. 바카라�The struggle of the older generation has been immense. The art market only opened up in the last 15-20 years. Their fight to make a living through art instilled in them a connect to art as an extension of themselves,바카라� says art critic and curator Uma Nair.

Souza바카라�s journey from his widely accla­imed (and equally berated) nudes, to his own critique of Christianity, the Church, or the corruption of the upper class, stood firm on the belief that anything destructive in society must be confronted. He once said, 바카라�I use the aesthetic rather than bullets or knives as a form of protest against stuffed shirts and hypocrites.바카라� Raza바카라�s  early abstracts are often a reworking of his own memories as the son of a forest ranger in MP바카라�s Narsinghpur district. Husain바카라�s last works, The Indian Civilisation series, eight monumental triptychs, were a summation of how he saw India. V.S. Gaitonde talked of art as waiting. 바카라�The most important aspect of painting is waiting, waiting, waiting, between one work and the next,바카라� he once said.

This primal need to create meaningful art has attenuated under the grasping blade of commercialism, say old-timers. The numbers are certainly impressive: Artery Indian Auction Report 2017 showed a turnover of Rs 609.03 crore from global sales of Indian art in 2016. Art as investment, and artists바카라� enr­ichment through auctions and commissions was only inevitable. 바카라�Earlier, masters never compromised. Today, the work of the youn­ger generation has become market-driven and repetitive,바카라� says Yashodhara Dalmia, art historian and curator. 바카라�There has been a qualitative degeneration,바카라� she adds. Senior art critic Kishore Singh agrees. 바카라�Artists do tend to be market-led. To sacrifice to be an artist is an old concept, and the artist in the garage idea is long gone...,바카라� he says.

But many demur with this line if the art is relevant. 바카라�If artists can make money, why not,바카라� says art collector Abhishek Poddar. A change from the late 바카라�70s when, as Atul Dodiya remembers, everyone believed art could not provide sustenance and required one to have an alternate career. In a letter to Raza dated September 29, 1952, painter and sculptor Sadanand Bakre wrote, 바카라�I get very little time to do my work. I still have to do a full-time job, which is an unhealthy sign for my work. But it is bread and butter.바카라� But today, says senior artist A. Ram­achandran, 바카라�The opening up of the market has led to parents wanting to make artists of their kids, bec­ause even art school graduates could sell a pleasing landscape for as much as Rs 2 lakh.바카라�

Dodiya is glad that he finds books and materials more affordable these days, but agrees the market can circumscribe the kinds of art deemed desirable. Yet, is the ideal artist, creating relevant art바카라�a response to the political or historical context or a pure personal aesthetic바카라�but in sync with the market, an impossibility? 바카라�Sure, there are definitely artists who are making attempts to do more than just sell art,바카라� says Dalmia. Still, the hand of the 바카라�market바카라� can be more insidious than the mere, bald fact of there being commerce. It can seep into a whole epoch, thinning out the aesthetic fibre, valorising the trite, the spectacular바카라�the artist may labour earnestly to create what he or she deems to be a relevant, topical 바카라�message바카라� and yet be under its sway.

Subodh Gupta has his own signature lexicon. Not for him pretty landscapes or New Age spiritual derivations that appeal to the parvenu 바카라�buying바카라� culture. Known for his use of steel utensils as a symbol of the common man, his installation, Line of Control, is a mushroom-shaped cloud made with shiny utensils바카라�a dire message to nuclear neighbours India and Pakistan. In 2001, for his shutter series, Dodiya painted Mahalaks­hmi바카라�a common, Ravi Varma-esque calendar art goddess, yet, behind the shutter, it depicts the tragedy of three dowry suicides. Then there was his Gandhi series in response to communal violence after the Babri Masjid demolition. Bharti Kher바카라�s signature 바카라�bindis바카라� signify the third eye바카라�celebrating an object of ritual and questioning perceptions about the common object Then there are others like Jitish Kallat, Nalini Malani and Jagannath Panda with their own visual languages.

But the overall field has so much that is pure dross. 바카라�The number of artists has gone up drastically in the last decade, and so has the number of 바카라�factories바카라� producing art,바카라� says Poddar. Artists바카라� inner lives have changed too. 바카라�I바카라�ve had long conversations with the masters about art, technique, society and life,바카라� reminisces Dalmia. Today, she is saddened by how self-centred artists are. 바카라�It바카라�s all about them, their next show, their current work. Art is now a confined space.바카라� The value system has leached out, agrees Ramachandran.

A spirit of conscious awareness바카라�a positive self-importance, if you like바카라�about the artist바카라�s responsibility is a casualty among con­­temporary artists. Yet, it바카라�s only the real art and artist that sur­­vive. Only because parts of India are romancing affluence, there바카라�s no call to give up on the regenerative power of art. A light will break through.