Is there an Indian contemporary art?
Is there an Indian art?
Historically the question does not arise. However, when one speaks about contemporary art the question becomes eminent.
Is art universal?
The answers are many. The “avant-garde” tried to get over with the concept of territoriality. In answer to the historical antagonisms, artists of the early twentieth century have been seeking a common language understandable by all irrespective of their nationality and personal knowledge.
Abstraction must be this universal language. What is more common than a line, a circle, a square or a triangle? Everyone must be able to feel this basic language.
“l’art concret”, claims the democratic dimension of an art open to all, an “evident art”.
The utopia of the proposal is magnificent. Like any utopia it is not truth. Like any utopia, it is appraised in the quality of the comment, topic of the claim. A world without utopia is a dead world, without dreams, without pursuit. Utopia belongs to the world of the storytellers. It is part of living cultures. In this, it is up to us to renew them constantly, it is up to us to tell new stories.
For my part, the story that I have chosen is this one: the universal is born in the local.
This concept, I prefer to say this tale, was imagined by Stuart Davis, a precursor of Pop Art. His work was inspired by his everyday life: American skyscraper, its perspectives, the neon signs and other huge advertising posters. Stuart Davis said to aim towards universal art by being inspired by his local universe.
This story applies beautifully to one of the major figures, founders of the American art: Jackson Pollock. Jackson Pollock was inspired by the sand paintings of the Native Americans to reach his own plastic vocabulary, the famous "all over", which will make him universal.
From the local springs the universal. Whether one thinks of Malevitch, Joseph Beuys, Helio Oiticica or Subodh Gupta, this approach of universal springing from local becomes evidence which charm delights us as the most beautiful of the tales.
Is there an Indian contemporary art?
To each his answer by way of a tale, please write your own here.
Photo : Alighiero Boetti and Kimsooja, installations, Centre d’Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie, « Rencontres Parallèles » 2004 curated by Hervé Perdriolle
Historically the question does not arise. However, when one speaks about contemporary art the question becomes eminent.
Is art universal?
The answers are many. The “avant-garde” tried to get over with the concept of territoriality. In answer to the historical antagonisms, artists of the early twentieth century have been seeking a common language understandable by all irrespective of their nationality and personal knowledge.
Abstraction must be this universal language. What is more common than a line, a circle, a square or a triangle? Everyone must be able to feel this basic language.
“l’art concret”, claims the democratic dimension of an art open to all, an “evident art”.
The utopia of the proposal is magnificent. Like any utopia it is not truth. Like any utopia, it is appraised in the quality of the comment, topic of the claim. A world without utopia is a dead world, without dreams, without pursuit. Utopia belongs to the world of the storytellers. It is part of living cultures. In this, it is up to us to renew them constantly, it is up to us to tell new stories.
For my part, the story that I have chosen is this one: the universal is born in the local.
This concept, I prefer to say this tale, was imagined by Stuart Davis, a precursor of Pop Art. His work was inspired by his everyday life: American skyscraper, its perspectives, the neon signs and other huge advertising posters. Stuart Davis said to aim towards universal art by being inspired by his local universe.
This story applies beautifully to one of the major figures, founders of the American art: Jackson Pollock. Jackson Pollock was inspired by the sand paintings of the Native Americans to reach his own plastic vocabulary, the famous "all over", which will make him universal.
From the local springs the universal. Whether one thinks of Malevitch, Joseph Beuys, Helio Oiticica or Subodh Gupta, this approach of universal springing from local becomes evidence which charm delights us as the most beautiful of the tales.
Is there an Indian contemporary art?
To each his answer by way of a tale, please write your own here.
Photo : Alighiero Boetti and Kimsooja, installations, Centre d’Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie, « Rencontres Parallèles » 2004 curated by Hervé Perdriolle
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gauutam R Khatri on -
Is art universal ? - My view is that art is always as local as the local influences of the viewer and as universal as the global influences of the viewer.
Is there an Indian contemporary art ? - If done by an Indian artist, it has to be Indian contemparory art, even in this world of seamless technology and high visibility of each others world and culture. Art, in the end is very unique to the artist and the viewer. His life's influence will always reflect in his art. In the current times besides local influences there are a lot of global influences in onces life and this fact is very reflective in the kind of art we get to see especailly out of the young contemporaries.
When an Indian artist paints, even on a subject which may be global, the forms on the canvas is very local to his influences... i.e. it will contain indian looking people more so than people for any other region. Even for Subodh it had to be Indian utensils rather than american casserols or the trollies and luggages as seen outside an Indian airport with the backdrops of Indian poeple and cabs rather than against a backdrop of any European airport.
An art is as unviersal as the personal influences the viewer has been exposed to. As a person living a life in a metro city of India, I have the indian influences and the current global influences... but not the ancient cultural influences of other countries... therefore I can relate to american pop art rather than the native american art. So for me American pop art is universal and the native art is local.
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Permalink Reply by manish pushkale on -
Herve i agree with your question if you allow me to edit it.....I think it should be 'is there an contemporary art"?, i think it is art which establishes character in locality and it is not vice-versa,or even if you think so, than again it is community which contributes in society through art and other practices .........
it is local which converts in global....
when artist, who hails from same community, comes with new interpretations and ideas and contributes to the possibility of seeing(ultimately it is visual art), allows or suggests others to think away form related conventional connotations.....the temporary starts converting in its contemporary.
i would love to add an example of Wallace stevens famous poem THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A BLACKBIRD. whenever someone is reading this poem actually adding his own thirteen ways of seeing in it, and the poem renued itself again and again with different interpretations on different time, like we have done just now, and it remains CONTEMPORARY not a TEMPORARY representation of any specific time or era.
When In the time of above said todays "Globality", the periphery of local is not only expanding but also encroaching others periphery, and community who are still untouched by GLOBALITY are real contemporaries. like tribes....whereever they are.... with no agenda, no propoganda.... but with unconditional belief in everything.....
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Permalink Reply by manish pushkale on
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i agree and welcome with mr. gauutam r khatri's statement too as one of the way of seeing out of those thireen.
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Permalink Reply by herve perdriolle on -
The Pop Art is it most universal than a sand painting made by a Native American ? It’s a wide question and the reply effectively depending from how you consider it. If we organise a show with these both form of arts in India like abroad to a large public, not only for the specialist, we could be surprised to see what is the most universally comprehensible. I think both are universals. I like to draw parallels between a primitive magical circle made by a chaman and the “black square “ of Malevitch. They constitute that André Malraux called “Le Musée Imaginaire”, an imaginary place where we could show all master works without borders.
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Permalink Reply by Sonali Engineer on -
like i said in my earlier post - lets not tag anything - its as much inherent as it is universal - let them paint the stories - let us unravel them.... the world goes on.......
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Permalink Reply by saba hasan on -
the only universals are emotions which lie deep within all living beings, and of course the sky,the earth and the ocean as they are available equally for all to experience. Any philosophy, idea or art around these are at the core of all experience and truly transcends borders.
my story can not be told in words as they place
a limit on its meaning but if you can hear the wind rustle amidst leaves,or waves tear themselves apart against rocks and best of all the music of your child's heartbeat then you will understand what is truly universal in art and life.
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Permalink Reply by Jenny Bhatt on -
I agree with Saba. As long as art has something of the universal and of universal experience, it transcends borders and time.
The other thing is the literal translation of art and classification of certain images as contemporary and others as not because they do not 'look' pop. A lot of people in India are obsessed with this kind of classification and rush to place an image rather than read it. Visual literacy is low.
Jenny
saba hasan said:the only universals are emotions which lie deep within all living beings, and of course the sky,the earth and the ocean as they are available equally for all to experience and any philosophy, idea or art around these are at the core of all experience.
also sometimes it is sound more than visuals that transcends borders.
my story can not be told in words as they place
a limit on its meaning but if you can hear the wind rustle amidst leaves, or waves tear themselves apart against rocks and best of all
your child's heartbeat....you will understand what is truly universal
in art and life.
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Permalink Reply by andreas w gerdes on -
"If done by an Indian artist, it has to be Indian contemporary art, even in this world of seamless technology and high visibility of each others world and culture." -
the allocation of passports/ nationalities is a very human trade. water is covering 2/3 of the earth's surface - an area in which many species exist and travel without the complexities which we human's invented.
art is amazing and is best to be identified by its beauty and energy which is solely based on a genius who created it. that artist might have been assigned a passport by life circumstances.
to process art many of us refer to places, regions, nations, continents and so on.
so Indian Contemporary Art exists for all who think and process in these terms.
PS is American Express - American, or since the most of their back up and customer service is done in India - Indian, these days? might be true for many others as well.
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Permalink Reply by Deepak Tandon on -
relative, subjective, will look forward to more response to this discussion..... If time does not exist then what?
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