In one of my nocturnal forays into the vast web of what passes off as research on the Internet, I decided to check out how the rest of the world was doing as far as contemporary art was concerned. What I discovered came as a surprise even to myself, considering I like to think I am very well informed about the arts — aha the delusions of the megalomaniac!
Admittedly what we see on the net are vast amounts of generalisation, unless one goes into specifics. The point I am trying to make is that when any person remotely interested in contemporary art across the world sees the general images on the net, what is the impression or overview he is likely to get: That art is region specific, culture specific and that there are only a few concerns, which can be termed “global” — terrorism and violence for one.
Considering that most Indian artists like to think that they are creating “world class” art, I would really implore them to have a look at what artistes in countries like the US, China, Germany, Italy and UK are doing, if only to understand where we stand. Contrary to popular perception, most artists from these countries are doing what I can at best describe as “regional”. But having said that, it is also true that if art is a reflection of life, then art from anywhere in the world is bound to be “regional” in content. Its presentation and exhibition may vary across the world, but if one were to think of the white cube of the gallery as the watermark of acceptable standards of “world class”, even then most art is regional by definition. For instance, the very prolific figurative art created in the Chinese mainland, has distinct mongoloid features and may not necessarily evoke empathy for itself in other parts of the world. By that implication it too is very regional. That it is also very vibrant and excitingly alive is a moot point. However, it cuts no ice here in India, where the popular notion of all things Chinese is largely negative.
By the way, a dear Indian friend who is in the business of acquiring companies in China and is constantly travelling all over the vast country, tells me that there are factories in China where artists are “creating” paintings by the bushel. A large number of these works are excellent copies of European masters to be used mostly for interior projects and consumption in various European domestic markets.
But they are also creating and recreating other works by contemporary Chinese artists that find takers in countries where there are large Chinese settlements — San Francisco being one. And of course with a rapidly burgeoning elite in China itself, there is a lot of domestic absorption of art.
Interestingly, the rough edges present in art from China are just not there in art from Japan. For one, like the people, their art too is very refined, sensitive and elegant. For the sheer perfection of their control over their idiom and genre, art from Japan has much higher acceptability even in European collections. One artist that immediately comes to mind is the contemporary maestro Senji — what control, what lyricism on canvas! His wistfully aesthetically balanced works finds takers all over the world. I am happy to plod through any amount of mounds of cherry blossom (very popular subject) to see that kind of art!
Speaking of West Asia, one can’t help but go into raptures about the level of aesthetics that is the hallmark of art from the Arab world. Most of it is calligraphic writing with abstract imagery being its setting and is very, very electrifying and aesthetic in presentation. It is interesting to note, that many of these artists are women and they are working hard to break notions of perception. The US on the other hand seems to have artists who look like they are painting in a state of happy stupor with happy expressions on people’s faces and general bliss all around! Even art from the UK has imagery replete with either graffiti or comic-book facial features.But art that really endeared my heart were some absolutely wonderful abstract works from Germany. By the way, during this flipping of pages on the net, I again saw Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull and Subodh Gupta’s bartan skull — scale notwithstanding, couldn’t help marvel at the similarity — global imagery anyone?!
Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuvanshi@
yahoo.com