Paint-By-Night-Sell-By-Day-Acrylic-On-Canvas-Artist

'Acrylic on Canvas'

I am no 'paint-by-night-sell-by-day-acrylic-on-canvas-artist'!!

Is this the only medium available to artists in India!!?

When there are other (better) time-tested medium/s...

So why do most contemporary Indian Artists paint exclusively in Acrylic?

Is it a shortcut to fame and money?!! To paint more and sell faster? An easy way out?!! Or is it because Oil is expensive and takes more time, effort and skill to use etc.?!

While there are only a few artists in the West (especially in Europe) who would paint in Acrylic, there are only a few Indian artists who paint in Oil!!

I am no 'paint-by-night-sell-by-day-acrylic-on-canvas-artist'!!

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I have never hung on (like parasites do) to an art institutionº or go from one Foreign Aid/ Scholarship to another to stay afloat.. I have never tired to get into any art college do my 'Masters' and more!!

I didn't had to create Video Art, installation art etc. to stay in news...

I have kept it simple by the old fashion way, old school style of painting and painting with Oils (mostly) on Linen - the classic time-tested medium of the Masters!! My paintings are simple and the titles are kept as simple as possible... using the the KISS theory: Keep-It-Simple-Stupid!! I know I could have sold more if my paintings were titled say 'Metamorphosis'¹ and not 'Yellow Rose in Blue Vase'!!

I don't go into the territory of 'Fantasia Art' or 'Naive Art' (or is it 'Child Art'?)²

I don't try to take on the Folk or Tribal³ art and reinvent them!!

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Art institutions & Art Scholarshipsº

I went to art college, just after my school years.. I was young and naive then... but realised the first day in there, that I haven't got anything much to learn here... so once I complete my 4 years I ran as fast as I could!! To start my real learning of art!!

Am of course referring here to the tribe of artists; who after they have finished their basic Bachelor degrees in Art went on do their Masters etc and later latched on to any "foreign Study Aid/Scholarships/Freebies"!! Last I heard, some of them are still at it!! It's been more than 20 long years that we graduated from our art college (1990).

I had no idea one has to study (?) so much for so long to become an artist!! The fact of the matter is that these institutions/scholarships are of financial benefits and these artists manage to live off them permanently!!

Metamorphosis¹

During my college days there was a junior who had put up his paintings for our yearly college art show.. and titled them as 'Metamorphosis'.

I knew him as one who didn't know a word of English and of course had never heard of 'Kafka' etc ...so when I asked him,
Why?' and 'Does he know the meaning etc?'

"No, it's to impress the art collectors!!" was his reply with a sly smile!! A fast learner... now his works sell at astronomical prices!!

This is a very old trick in an artists' repertoire.. to keep his works and titles as bombastic, ambiguous as possible.. as display of the artists' maturity and depth of emotion etc... Once I made a list of names, titles of exhibitions, paintings... and showed it to an English professor... He was of course dumbfounded and it made extremely funny reading!! Meaningless, mindless, gibberish rubbish!!! Like most of their work!! But to art loving Indian collectors it must have made some sense.. for they do all rushed in to buy them!!

Child Art²

Example of Child or Naive Art

I don't go into the territory of 'Fantasia Art' or 'Naive Art' (or is it 'Child Art'?)²

For us adults 'Child Art' is no child's play!!
Have you seen a child's painting? They are so beautiful and I don't see any reason for us adults to steal their ideas and paint 'like them' and then sell them to art connoisseur at exuberant prices!!
Its simply not fair to the child!!...

³Folk, Tribal Art and It's Reinvention by the 'Con' temporary artists!!!



Thangka, Tanjore, Kalamkari & Madhubani Paintings (l to r)



In the same way why take the forms from 'Thangka' art or 'Kalamkari'? Let them be... they anyway do a much better job of painting a Buddha or a Krishna!! And they are much more reasonably priced than the ones copied by so called 'contempory artist'!!



These trends can only be explained with a bit of our (Indian) art history.. dating back when Nationalism was in rise during the fag end of nineteenth century 1890s) and beginning of twentieth century (1900-47). Many artist consciously-subconsciously wanted to reject anything which was coming from the West.. Western art etc and so they looked inward, in their backyard.. and to the Oriental art. Artists of that era took folk/traditional art forms and transformed them.. In Bengal this was very prevalent... artists looking for inspiration in Ajanta & Elora, taking forms from Chinese and Japanese art etc. I  don't need to cite examples here... It was a process of evolution and a kind of protest against the imperialism etc.. but that's almost a hundred years ago.. today taking the style, motifs from the traditional art form makes no sense... also if one is so inspired by Thankha, Kalmakari, Worli, Madhubani, ..why not do it the right way: go to the real source, learn the techniques and grammar from a let say, a Thangka guru and follow it like all folk/traditional artists/craftsmen do? And create genuine folk forms? No, the contemporary artist after attending 4-5 years of art college training (learning mostly Western art, style, techniques etc) would go out and make atrocious copy of folk style and sell it off as 'contemporary art'!! It is cheating. Its so unfair as the folk, tribal artists don't command astronomical prices or respect like the 'Con' temporary artists do!!!

Music of Assam

Years ago we had to spend one night in a waiting room of Guwahati Railway Station.. my father with great difficulty procured a little corner for his family of five... we had just arrived after days of travelling in buses, trains et al from a very small Himalayan town to the far eastern plains of Brahmaputra. We had grown up there as Kumaonis... and now after 3 long years of childhood we were excited and very curious about Assam and Goalpara, where ultimately we were to go..

As we camped in the waiting room for the night, we heard sound of a strange language, close to my mother tongue Bangla but their 'स' being 'ह' it sounded exotic. Being away in the Himalayas we were more familiar with Komaoni or Hindi.

We children were very exited to be in a new place. Though growing up in the mountains was very adventurous.. but we being very adventurous children had exhausted all avenues around our Himalayan hamlet..

As night fell and after eating a sumptuous meal of rice and दाल we went off to sleep. It has been days since we left our home of 3 years behind and have been travelling with all our belongings in trucks, buses and trains.. it was one of the longest journey for us. I remember my father being very upset with a group of young men in the waiting room.. he even went to complain about their boisterous behaviour etc. Later in the night as we slept soundly.. I awakened by strain of someone's singing.. a strange tune, sung in a strange exotic language. The tune was lilting and catchy, dramatic... even to my young ears they sounded very different.

It didn't take me much long to know it was the music of Assam.. songs of Bhupen Hazarika!!

F1 & Plein Air in Noida, India

Two Friends At A Tea Shop, Noida Fields, Near River Yamuna. 2009

As India is getting all excited and ready for the F1 (Indian Formula One) race event... I wonder, like me many more would remember the space, place we once cherished and occupied... the vast wide open fields around Noida, Yamuna. It wasn't long ago that I would spend time around these very places, where today ear-splitting sound of Formula One cars would be jet-setting.. and ironically this was my space!! A space I had found and cherished, for its quietude. To run away from the madness of city life, to be with wide open green fields of rice in autumn, wheat fields in winter. Not to mention the yellow mustard fields and innumerable vegetables I would get from large hearted villagers, mostly refusing money...

For some years the land around the rivers Yamuna and Hindon have been my happy hunting ground to paint and take pictures, to sit under a tree, to drink tea at my friend's small tea shop. Or just while away my time chatting with villagers under the warm winter sun.

I had just returned from Europe. One late September afternoon while out on a drive to spot Nilgai, a waft of strong aromatic rice being cooked floated in, but there wasn't a soul around! I stopped and looked around the ripened Basmati growing fields and then my friend told me the aroma is coming from the rice fields!! Later we saw those large beautiful animals crossing over the vast rice fields, their short, sharp pointed horns and beautiful gait. The concerned agency had taken away the land and cut them in huge chunks and laid roads in a grid pattern.. A layout our forefathers from the banks of Sindhu Civilisation did some 5000 thousand years back... Though the land had been taken away and some kind of roads were being laid, it was still cultivated by the enterprising villagers.. To extract the last benefits before being buried completely by an asphalt jungle...

My flat too is constructed on these plains and pointing towards that he said, "You know an entire village can feed and sustain from just the area of land these flats occupy?"

There are so many memories and paintings I have painted in these fields... But every now and then when I would go back to a favourite spot only to be greeted by huge construction machines and workers turning the spot into a huge dug up mess. The Kash flowers grow in abundance here (in the wild) during the autumn months, just as the rains go away and the festive season starts. In winter villagers grew vast fields of marigold and roses.

Now the land is gone, with little compensation in banks, these villagers don't know what to do... Some have bought land elsewhere and some have squandered it off..

India is in a frenzy, trying to make a statement to the world..."We need development. We need Formula one." I don't know. But the very place where these developments are happening - these vast area around Yamuna, the numerous villages and the Yamuna itself. I didn't see any development. The villages are a hotchpotch of houses, roads, lanes, narrow and not metalled, no drainage system, nor is there a sewer system in place and when it rains, there is knee deep slush in the roads and lanes. The roads are so narrow that two tractors won't pass by. Once while painting in the wheat fields nearby I was invited by one of the villagers to his house to have warm गर्म Buffalo milk, meaning freahly milked not boiled!! So I hopped onto his tractor, leaving my canvas and paints in the fields. His mother and others working there would be looking after. "Anyway there aren't any thieves here.. Only sometimes the migrants from other states can be trouble.." they informed me.

So off we went to his house... the roads were narrow and full of pot holes with open drains. The buffalo shed was cramped. All in all a big unplanned mess. A far cry from our heritage town planning form the 'Sindhu Days' we are so proud to tell the world. My friend milked his buffalo and then offered me a big glass of warm milk, it was nice.

Cows Grazing - 2/ Noida Villages off Expressway  
Acrylic on Canvas  38cm x 38cm,  3rd Sept. 2006

While returning back we hit major traffic jam!! It was wheat harvesting season and tractors were all now heading back to the village. While we were to go back to the fields! The village road was so narrow that two tractors wont pass. And we went back and forth to find any vacant space to reverse into, someone's courtyard, someone's vacant plot! A mere 10 minute walk took us about an hour!! When we came out of this hell-hole called a village, I took a long deep breath of fresh air. And wondered why on earth, when so much land is available we cant have a planned village? I don't know...

Now we have spent Rs. 1,700 crore (around $400 million) to built a F1 track... and a stone throw away the villagers don't have playing fields, no gymnasium, safe drinking water and electricity supply is erratic. In stark contrast private builders are offering RO water swimming pool, spa with flats in the enclosed townships. The villages will be there, trapped amidst these private flats. Most have buffaloes and once there were many watering holes for them to bathe and while away time (buffaloes need to do that) now there aren't any left. All ponds have been filled up for optimum land use. I have talked to these villagers and they are most comfortable when they can keep buffaloes and can cultivate land. These are the two things they do well. Now when we take these away what will they do? I don't know..

As I gathered my paints and easel lying in the filed, with the moon shinning above, I remembered another evening...

Noida Fields (with Flowers in foreground) Oil on Canvas 14 x 17 inches 2006  

I was painting the Sun setting beyond the Yamunas, over the Delhi-Faridabad skyline. I had put my easel near to where the farmers were busy tending to their vegetables.

I had finished one and wanted do one more of the setting Sun. And by now the group of farmhands had gatherer behind me to see me paint, having finished their work. We all watched in awe as the mighty red Sun went down and the evening was cast in a red-orange robe... and then darkness slowly fell. I quickly started to gather my paints and brushes. One loses them a lot when the light dims!! With a sigh I said to the small band of people around me..."So the sun has set for the day,".. But one of them told me to turn around quickly, as I did so I saw the dazzling sight of a moon-rise! Coming out from behind a small dark tree, a large sized ball of white and yellow, same size as the sun, only the sky was dark around it. I realised I had forgotten from years of living away from nature, that as sun sets in the west, the moons rises from the east...

Marigold Pickers
Marigold Fields, Noida
Oil on Canvas
Size: 15" x 30 inches
38.3 cm x 76.5 cm
Dec 2006

One day I went to the banks of river Yumana to paint. The river now is reduced to a stinking-sewage-like-drain. As I neared the banks a strong stench came from the river. Still determined to paint the famed river, pitched my easel next to it and I got down to paint. Soon I noticed villagers crossing the once mighty river, just walking across! Of course the daunting task now was not how good your skills as a swimmer against the strong currents! But how not to throw-up midway!! Many of the simple villagers mistook me for some Government engineer making drawings for a new bridge and requested me to do so at the earliest!! Across this lies Haryana. Many of them come from the village across to work in the fields along Yumana. 

I don't know how much money is needed to turn Yumana into a river again. But don't we need to remedy these flaws first and then move onto F1?

Saving Yamuna is really the need of the hour.. Our whole civilisation was born at shore of this beautiful river... A river held scared for its selfless, timeless service to mankind... A river which contributed so much for it's people. A million songs and stories and tales revolve around its magical quality, charm, romance and the pure blue waters ... 

And now reduced to a stinking drain... And no one ever comes out on the streets of Delhi to save it?!! 

So many street protests, senseless TV debates and waste of newsprint etc on useless issues... But non on Yamuna or Ganga?!!

Is it because it has a "religious" connotation that no one has come forward to save them?!! 

Of course the rivers are scared to us... Anything which contribute so much is held dearly and it is but natural for humans to pray for its longevity etc!!

What has a particular religion got to do with it?!! The rivers were good too all! The rivers were "Secular" to all... Without knowing what that @#$% word means?!!

And we all suffer at their death!!

Yoga

Another day a year ago, doing my morning Yoga at Jezioro Jaroslawieckie w Wielkopolski Parku Narodowym, 23 October 2010

Yesterday morning was wet and cold (8°C) from a night-long rain. 
As usual I spread my thin mat and sat down on park lawns of my colony to do my morning Yoga. The cold wet ground beneath and a cloudy morning sky is quite common in this late October months...
A little later a stocky, middle aged dark haired man approached me, he spoke in a whisper.. in a foreign language (not Polish). After the usual handshake, he sat down on the grass next to me and kept staring... as if trying to figure me out.. (Yoga or Yoga out in the park is not an usual sight here in Poland!!). He gestured something about the thin sheets I was using to sit and my bare feet. I presumed he wanted that mat etc., I gestured and tried to tell him maybe I can bring him another one the next day... 
He went away only to come back in a moment with 2 blankets and a pair of leather shoes for me!!

Painting in the Italian Landscape

Spent over a month this summer (2011), painting in the Tuscany region of Italy...

Tuscan Landscape
Oil on Linen
65 x 60 cm
25.6x23.6 Inches
22-23 March 2012

Olive Garden-II
Oil on Linen
8.25x8.25 Inches
21 x 21 cm
2011-12

Tuscany-2, Italy 
Acrylic on Linen 
40x26 cm 
2011
Painted on Location 



Olive Garden 
Acrylic on Linen 
21 x 21 cm 2011
Painted on Location 

Sunflowers, Tuscany, Italy-4 
Acrylic on Linen 
26 x 24 cm 
2011
Painted on Location 

Sunflowers, Tuscany, Italy-5 
Acrylic on Linen 
26 x 24 cm 
2011
Painted on Location 

Sunflowers, Tuscany, Italy-3  
Acrylic on Linen 
21 x 21 cm
2011
Painted on Location 
For Sale

Sunflowers, Tuscany, Italy-2  
Acrylic on Linen 
21 x 21 cm 
2011
Painted on Location 

Sunflowers, Tuscany, Italy  
Acrylic on Linen 
31.5 x 20.5 cm 
2011
Painted on Location

Tuscany Landscape
Acrylic on Linen
38x30.5 cm
2011

Firenze
Acrylic on Linen
21x13cm
July 2011

Monte Amiata, Tuscany, Italy-2 
Acrylic on Linen
32x21cm
2011
Painted on Location



MF Husain Is Dead... Today?!!

MF Husain died today... but for some he was never there...



MF Husain
Photo courtesy of © Pankaj Sharma

 Many years back MF Husain, was seen uncomfortably moving around our Art College¹ office courtyard... And our 'art professors' were seen peeping through their 'office' windows... it was our break time. I was sitting on the grassy lawns of our campus with some of my friends. It looked so uncomfortably stupid... here was this Art College in the heart of nation's capital, and in here had come an iconic artist...( I don't know the reason why). And no one was brave enough to go upto him, talk to him etc. During our lunch break all of us would be setting on the lawns, on the courtyard steps or in the canteen. We all watched this iconic artist strolling around uncomfortably... not knowing what to do.. maybe he was waiting for his appointment with some one..or he may had come to meet the principal or something...

As I watched this lanky man amble around.. and all eyes watching him in awe... I decided with my friends to go over to him and invite him to sit with us on the lawns.. I went upto him, and he agreed and came and sat with our group of about 4 friends!! I still remember the peeping art professors turning red!!

By the way our art teachers made sure never to invite any of the 'real artists' from the outside world, ever to interact with the students for fear of their stature getting more dwarfed than from their already pygmy sizes!!

We all sat down and treated him as one of our friends.. he had no airs and spoke as one of us.. we asked if he would have tea and he readily agreed!! I ran towards our canteen... and reaching the counter hollered:
"Kamal (he was our canteen owner and chef!! who could rustle up lovely tea, samosa, bread pakora, rice, dal, kardhi...) make tea... 5 cups! Jaldi!!" and Kamal with a dour face replied:
"No milk!!"
I shouted "Kamal we have MF Husain.. please!!"
Kamal hearing this got equally excited and enthusiastically replied:
"No problem!! We'll make black tea.. Husain Saab loves black tea!!"

So we rushed back with our black tea and had tea with MF Husain!!

Of course I become more unpopular with my college staff... and had to struggle through my stay there for 4 long years²...



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*MF Husain died today (9 June 2011)?!

But for some he was never there.. so the heading of my essay reads — 'MF Husain Is Dead... Today?!!' (2011-06-09) This blog was written when I heard the news of Husain's death last summer. Indian Art Collectors (a well know art website) was kind enough to publish it then. The extraordinarily beautiful portrait of MF Husain was taken by Pankaj Sharma, also an alumni of Delhi Art College. He has kindly agreed to let me publish it here.
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¹Delhi Art College, New Delhi, India

²1986-90

My Painting Companion

Rex or Reksu (neighbour's) my constant companion.. i miss him today..