In today’s age, BC could very well stand for Before Camera. The ubiquitous camera has gripped the mind’s gaze to such an extent that a lot of artistic “seeing” happens through the camera lens. It has certainly taken a toll on the expanse of ophthalmic experience and its subsequent expression.
The advent of the camera did away with the need to preserve people and places and things in realistic terms. Pre-camera times had led to varying genres of art over the centuries and now when the camera’s eye itself has become the medium or even idiom of seeing, where does the artist go from here?
It would be only logical to assume that the artist’s gaze would perceive cognitive reality in an interesting variation of Roshomon’s truth. After all, nothing is absolute and nothing is complete.
And yet when one is delving into expressions of contemporary reality, be it thoughts, emotions or experiences, the form must strike a chord, which can only happen when one is convinced that it cannot be expressed in any other way. Be it stylisation or realism, if it fails to convince the onlooker about the reason of its very existence, obviously there is something lacking. This is especially true in the case of human figures that populate canvases of contemporary masters — for they assume forms as malleable entities. And what they do to the form, keeping in mind the content, it is what sets them apart as artistes and their works distinct. And if the initiated onlooker is left wondering about the form and its raison d’ etre, will it be considered the artist’s failure?
It is the exploration of this creativity that is manifest in the form of all art. And yet, the nebulousness of this dream-like state is not obscure or oblique. Its inherent strength lies in its ability to develop to encase within its domain the manifestations of images. Can images that are not nebulous, but classic ideations be mirrored?
Not as unspoken presences, but entities that leave an ineffaceable notion on all that comes within its sphere and territory. It is this indelibility which becomes the factor that impels change — not as a destination to be arrived at, but as a journey that passes through the entire scope or prism of experiences.
If art is the embodiment of the finer sensibilities, then it must perform its primary purpose of creating in the mind’s canvas a space that in turn, distills to perfection, tranquility in tune with the higher consciousness of the universe. And by definition, art must enrich and nourish the inherent creative impulse of both its creator and the beholder.
It must unfold a spectrum of emotions that flow with the moment, like a veritable deluge that envelops to create anew that silent moment. Silence that celebrates. The light and resonance of these creates echoes in silences. Only the sensibilities need to be attuned to hear them and see them as we see them visually.
This sensitivity needs to be perfected over time. Perhaps it is the perfection of the reflection when the creator looks within to merge with the without, is what sets the works apart. Then art captures the joyous moment when reflections resonate with the exhilaration of creation. Creation that is pristine in purity, and where reflections that cast a shadow don’t deter, but find the path to a newer horizon. The creator and the creation and the onlooker amalgamate into a whole. It is this art that one wants to cherish for a lifetime and more.
And the outcome of such a thoughtful marriage of craftsmanship and imaginative capabilities is what transforms their canvases into an act of reverence and expression of gratification. What one needs to look for is the meaning that lies beyond the obvious.
Art demands from the viewer a certain amount of time and close association. It is up to you to allow it wash over you like the Indian monsoon — inundating with its sheer magnitude and at the same time spiritual in its quest to unite the creator and its creations seamlessly.
Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist