A stray remark by an artiste friend triggered off a thought process that I best try to shove under the carpet. I had come to wish her luck before her dance performance and she was still putting on her make-up. She asked one of the most existential questions in a completely no frills manner: Why are we artistes or artists? I answered almost instinctively: Because we can’t help it! At that moment, it seemed a smart retort and bordering on the flippant and yet, all through her recital, that was all I could think about.
Another line that flitted across my mind was: Why does the nightingale sing? It sings because it has a song…I wondered if that alone was the case? Are artistes there because they have a song? Is the need to express so paramount that they choose it over everything else? The conviction that they have is something important and unique to express and they are the only ones who can express it in that exact manner. It is the only reason they carry on despite of everything.
It is a question that must have been asked by artists across the board, across the centuries, across the world forever. What impels you to “become” an artist? Are you born with an artist’s DNA? Can it be acquired? Is it a learnt skill? Is it inherited? Is it mastery over the idiom? Is it perspiration alone that makes an artist? Or is it inspiration? How much of it is inspiration and how much of it is perspiration? And when you start applying logic, the answer to all the questions is in the affirmative!
Over the years in my journey of very close interactions with theatre persons, dancers, musicians and of course painters, I have often wondered whether the constant quest for artistic perfection that sets the special individual apart from the crowd is worth it? Not for aesthetic reasons, but for reasons of sheer survival. This is not to say that artistes or artists attain perfection every time they lift their brush, tie on their ghungroos, touch their instruments or open their mouths to sing. They do not. But when they do, does that moment of magic and wonder make all the pain, the effort and the heartbreak of the journey worth it? That again brings one back to the “worth” it situation. Can that “worth” be gauged in terms of adulation and admiration — including mass hysteria that accompanies cine stars?
And for every star that lights up the artistic firmament there are thousands who die unsung, unrecognised. For surely it can’t be money that impels artists to do what they do. Simply because for all the effort that we actually put in creating and refining aesthetic perceptions can never be rewarded in terms of monetary gains.
Assuming all artists are creative goes without saying. Most of them are also eccentric. Some of them are selfish and egoistical too. But all of them are genuinely different. That is what sets them apart from the crowd. Parallel to their need to express their creativity is the need to share the manifestation of that expression. Otherwise how can they even want and expect to hold the undivided attention of hundreds and thousands in a darkened auditorium? Or share their paintings and sculpture with veritable strangers?
In the Indian context, one is expected to overtly uphold tradition and yet covertly retain one’s own individuality to colour a sky that is yours alone. Can one soar higher than the previous generation and yet not break the established icons to go beyond the laxman rekha or limit of propriety to speak a language that is yours alone? Can one slay the shadowy demons of yesterday to emerge into today? What is the trigger point or the long drawn process before emerging as “one of a kind”.
It is death for the artiste if the motivations of their creativity are not understood, some ageing before their time and making others wiser.
To many, appreciation has come not a day too soon. Perhaps that is why they value it more and fight to retain it — sometimes going to extreme lengths that culminate in making the retention paramount and not the creative expression. Some of the artistes have also withdrawn. For others, the need to share has become even more acute.
Being an artist is not an easy journey and artistes — be they performing artistes or visual artists — pay a heavy price to remain artists and keep their art alive.
When the Supreme Rangrez chooses to bless you with art, he makes sure that you have fewer choices to distract you. It is also called a very heavy price. But ask any artist and they will not want to change the perils of this journey for the fruits are so beautiful that it is all worth it.

Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuv-anshi@yahoo.com