I'd been invited to view the Final Year Art Exhibition - many years previously the annual show had caused a national controversy about freedom of expression, with a student being arrested and a senior academic leaving the campus.....for good !
The campus is a mirage of dappled sunlight with Banyon Trees providing a canopy overhead. The studios for Painting are large and sprawling, as they interact with those of Sculpture, Photography and Print making.
The exhibits are manned by the students themselves, so they are readily available to discuss their work. The subject matter is generally biographical - most students of a certain age are wrapped up in themselves and their place in the world and perhaps their favourite vehicle for expression is through Surrealism (an early 20th century art movement, invented in France). Some of the work dealt with the theme of 'litter' and some with the environment, expressing concern over India becoming an industrialised nation and moving away from the agrarian ideal of Gandhiji. But this was a safe show - nothing remotely controversial here.
It's disappointing that there is no platform for really experimental ideas any more. Art, like everything else, is a commodity with a price tag, so it must conform, it must be salable. Students demand disproportionately high prices for their work. It is strange that in a student show such as this, there is no reference to the great tradition of Indian painting. One struggles to find a connection to the fabulous illustrative techniques of the Moghuls, or the contemplative art of Ajanta, or the vibrant decoration of Mudubhani art, or the sensuousness of Khajuraho.
A senior Indian artist once commented to me that most people are bent on survival and only have time to look at the peacocks in life. Perhaps that is the matter with art - unless it is in the style of a famous international art movement, it isn't worth pursuing .....?
The campus is a mirage of dappled sunlight with Banyon Trees providing a canopy overhead. The studios for Painting are large and sprawling, as they interact with those of Sculpture, Photography and Print making.
The exhibits are manned by the students themselves, so they are readily available to discuss their work. The subject matter is generally biographical - most students of a certain age are wrapped up in themselves and their place in the world and perhaps their favourite vehicle for expression is through Surrealism (an early 20th century art movement, invented in France). Some of the work dealt with the theme of 'litter' and some with the environment, expressing concern over India becoming an industrialised nation and moving away from the agrarian ideal of Gandhiji. But this was a safe show - nothing remotely controversial here.
It's disappointing that there is no platform for really experimental ideas any more. Art, like everything else, is a commodity with a price tag, so it must conform, it must be salable. Students demand disproportionately high prices for their work. It is strange that in a student show such as this, there is no reference to the great tradition of Indian painting. One struggles to find a connection to the fabulous illustrative techniques of the Moghuls, or the contemplative art of Ajanta, or the vibrant decoration of Mudubhani art, or the sensuousness of Khajuraho.
A senior Indian artist once commented to me that most people are bent on survival and only have time to look at the peacocks in life. Perhaps that is the matter with art - unless it is in the style of a famous international art movement, it isn't worth pursuing .....?
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