In Indian
contemporary art scene (or should I say, in our general art scene) there are
two types of artists; one, those who create art, exhibit art and live in art.
Second type, those who see art, discuss art, debate art, admire art and
successful artists and position themselves permanent artist viewers. This
second lot live in permanent depression. And interestingly, the first lot of
artists needs the second lot to be permanently there. The relationship is
viciously mutual. The second lot is like a hireable crowd that goes anywhere
for Rs.100 per head and a quarter bottle of wine, irrespective of the colour of
flags. They are bound to create an ambience for the successful artists and
fight for flimsy causes that would results into larger effects.
My trip to
eight cities in India, in order to promote the concept of United Art Fair
underlined this belief of mine further. One more stroke of a strong graphite
piece along the virtual space of my beliefs. Sitting along with Annurag Sharma,
the founder director of the United Art Fair and addressing hundreds of young
artists in Baroda, Bombay and elsewhere, I saw this second lot of artists.
Their eyes shine when they see people like us; not because we are great people
or celebrities, but because we are the people from the zone of art movers and
shakers whom they could see from close quarters. The sparkles in their eyes are
not of compassion or love. The sparkle is that of vengeance. Let me tell you
given a chance, these friends would pounce on us and kill us.
(In Bangalore)
Even if they
do, I don’t blame them. I can understand their frustration and angst. Their
frustration comes from the fact that they are always forced to sit at the
sidelines. Somebody lectures them down. Somebody gives them advices. Somebody
gives them dinners for free so that he/she could take out the worldly wisdom
she/he has earned so far in due course of a successful artistic career. They
put up a show and the successful ones come there. They don’t suggest these
artists’ names to a gallery. Instead, they get a shoulder pat and few good words
and probably an invitation to a house party. Nothing more nothing less. The
next day you find yourself sitting at your studio or the dingy rooms where you
live and work and dream about that day when you could lecture them back, you
could advice them in turn and you could invite them for a house party.
If a young
artist walks up to me and slaps me I will not slap him back. I may not show my
other cheek to him. I will ask him, even if I know why he slapped me, for a
reason. And I am sure he would say I was not slapping you but the system that
you represent, a system that makes artists just cannon fodders. I will embrace
him and walk off. Why? I know he was not slapping me. He was slapping a person
who at least partially representing an unkind system. But I would walk in the
opposite direction with a smile because at least I would be happy that I was
the one who was going near to them in a slappable distance. I have been at
least making that effort to get slapped by the young artists. But mind you, if
you slap me without a reason you may not use your hands again to do your art.
Every day I
look at my inbox and see a number of mails basically telling me the same; we
don’t have money. We want to participate in the United Art Fair. Some plainly
say that they cannot even think of sparing that last slab of fifteen thousand
rupees because that money would support them through a month in some dingy little
studio somewhere in India. I understand them. I try to put some logic into
their minds. If you want to shape your career you can take two paths: one make
works and wait for a messiah to come and save you. It could take four years to
fourteen years to forty years. I have seen people like that waiting endlessly
for that day of redemption. Second option is investing for your career. I
cannot tell you how you are going to raise that money. But to make something
you need to invest somewhere.
(A few young artists in one of the United Art Fair artists meets)
Don’t think
that I am talking only to the suffering and the complaining. I am talking to
the successful and the rich. I am like water, I can flow freely. And remember
water flows downhill. Water waters the thirsty in the valleys. But water
originates at the hill top. And it ends in the eternity of ocean. Be like
water, says Bruce Lee. So what do these rich and successful tell me: A few of them tell me that please don’t waste
your time for the suffering and the complaining. They are going to be like
that. They will see art, discuss art, appreciate art and die in their own frustration.
So just forget them. Many others keep silence. Many benevolent ones tell me
that someone should do something for these artists. I have been asking the
local governments to create funding system for the artists. Democracy is deaf.
Some of my
friends, who are successful and rich behave as if they have just come out of
heaven after their breakfast. They just don’t understand what is going on in
this lowly earth. They look at the artists who go to the exhibitions and never
get a chance to exhibit, and say, oh artists, let them do their works man. The
successful ones are in search of their peace and they don’t want dirt like
suffering artists. And the irony is most of the rich artists have come from
lowly situations. They had been there for some time. They know the pain of
being there. I am not saying that the artists should suffer in order to make it
in their lives. But suffering should not be a prolonged factor and one should
not be kept a permanent spectator.
(With Jeevan Thomas)
So my young
friends, brace up and wake up. No god is coming to save you from the sky.
Neither Annurag Sharma nor I are messiahs. We are here with a business plan for
you. We are not saying that after participating in the United Art Fair you are
going to be rich, famous and much sought after on the next day onwards. We are
not selling any dreams here. We are just creating a platform for you so that
you can stop complaining and participate. You can feel that you are an artist
and you get a lot of dignity from us. Galleries cannot run behind you. They
need such platforms to identify you. It is not the boom time that you just sit
and work so that angels would fly down from Delhi and Mumbai to pick up you to
the heaven of success. It is time for you to work towards your future.
And one more
thing. If you are not interested in market and selling of your works, please do
not exhibit in any commercial situations. And do not go for any commercial
exhibitions. You all should strive for creating a situation where an artist
could live without the support of the existing market. But remember we are here
to make not one market but many markets. The beauty of our country lies in many
markets. When a set of players hijack heterogeneity of this country we call it
monopoly. Don’t you want to join hands against all monopolies? Then come with
us. I will show you how to cross a desert without a camel.
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