Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Meeting Anish Kapoor

During the summit, I had this joyful experience of meeting Anish Kapur in person along with my friends for about an hour, Thanks to my friends, Anshul and Manika (of course to Anshul’s parents as well). It was great to talk to him and he allowed us to take a peep into his process and what goes on in his mind. We were completely overtaken by his charismatic presence and modesty. It was like a dream. Looking at his work and the entire exhibits at NGMA and what I have seen earlier when I had traveled abroad and from what I have read and seen in books, I tended to think that at times his work moves to excess. So talking to him was as if I was back in the history of art and aesthetic classroom and learning again. He talked about his approach, the element of play, scaling, dreaming about form (his pre-occupation), what fascinates him in India, etc… We had an interesting discussion about bindi and its application in art. He talked about his journey from his early pigment sculptures to mirror-polished stainless-steel work and then the Svayambh’ project and ‘Shooting into the Corner’. It is interesting to see that the creator is also a spectator in the case of these works. The next day Homi Bhabha (Speaker’s forum) observed this aspect of his work and referred to it as ‘actor and spectator’. When he said that ‘the scale is not about the size but the complexity, I realised that the scale and the overall nature of his work are not about excess -as I had thought earlier- but about this complexity. There is a sense of unfolding and discovering of the form as you approach it and move around and the work grew further as you experience it.

During my days in Delhi, some years ago, alternative art and iconoclasm were something my friends and I often discussed. The edge and iconoclasm, that was brought by postmodernism and its baby - the art at the turn of the 21st Century, had the ability to challenge the notions of gallery and the convention of its space, ideas, and practice beyond the image, relooking at the nature and character of the narrative. These were dear to us and unfortunately, many works in Delhi seemed to miss it this time. Many artists who were showcased at the summit failed to rise to this level. Instead of challenging the seemingly trendy, works these days seem to be tricked and guided by the gallery or display space. The concept of alternative space, in art, seems to be limited to the alternative physical space than a conventional gallery, not changing the given space. The ability of a work to influence its surroundings and alter it and be mutually enhanced is its strength and seemed to be lacking in many work. Exceptions are very very rare. What Anish Kapoor could do by throwing wax into the interior of The Royal Academy of Arts to defy any clinically crafted end result and ‘display euphoria’ is what one would call iconoclasm. It is a ‘Duchampian act’ with a twist.

The presence of Anish Kapoor in Delhi- his works and person - has given a great edge to the City and an interesting appeal to its art circle in January. It was fantastic to meet the artist and listen to him. The conversation between Homi Bhabha and Anish was the biggest draw of the first of the speaker’s forum at the Summit. The 3rd edition Art Summit may eventually be remembered most for this.

When the corporate takes over the aesthetics. Art Summit, New Delhi 2011

It was enjoyable to be back in Delhi to attend the Art Summit, a city I love a lot, a city that has given me a lot - an educational phase that would always remain in my memory, terrific friends, the experience of a vibrant art world, a set of jobs and yes real mistakes too, that had changed life forever.

Delhi has changed. The art scene too! Friends with whom I use to hang around have become the face of Contemporary Indian Art. It was good to meet them again, though briefly.

Not being in Delhi I miss a lot of exhibitions and I looked forward to Art Summit as a chance to see new work and listen to artists and critics. This absence from Delhi, from the thick of the action, also provides a chance to be the outsider. So what I see and listen to, partially, is from this perspective.

It was as if one is witnessing all the exhibitions that would happen over the span of a year or two in one shot and at one place. The mela of course had an energy that was enjoyable. Both a reeling head and hallucination were assured. Unfortunately, it was also a bit ‘toxic’ rather than ‘intoxicating’.

Reaching back to Bangalore, I decided to wait for a few days to reflect on the summit. I thought this would allow me to reflect more calmly and at school, the exams are around and there was a lot of work to complete.

Art Summit, to start with, is not a gallery space. Art Summit, by objective, is to endorse the art market, the value of branding, and not necessarily about aesthetic value. It is not a group show or anything curatorial. It is a fare to energize business ties. It is a forum for art galleries and independent artists (who can afford it) to showcase their set of art and it is widely and truly addressed to the potential buyers and investors. It is a forum to form new connections. In this regard, space here is a ‘point of purchase’ (POP) and not necessarily related to a conventional sense of gallery. The presence of work in the gallery and experiencing it cannot be possible in an atmosphere of stalls. There is always this limitation of ‘art space’ to the summit. However, criticism is only an extension of experiencing arts and an intrinsic element of its culture, and Art Summit too cannot escape from it. The large public turnout to the Summit is primarily because of its aesthetic and experiential reasons- to see artworks and not to buy (a sort of window shopping).

A note about the summit, either reflective or critical, is problematic in that sense. However, I would like to approach it from the premises of being an artist and as I mentioned earlier, from the freedom of an outsider. It is looked at as ‘art culture’ and exhibits as a work of art. In short, the Summit is the best example of what happens when the corporate world takes aesthetics over. The discussions about the aesthetic or critical aspects of art practice were limited and the focus was on the ‘commodity value’ of art. There is nothing wrong with selling and buying and having a robust art market. but it is equally sad in a way that art culture limits itself to the ‘art corporate’ and ‘art estate’. The displeasure at such a situation was apparent when Atul Dodiya said in his opening note at the Speaker’s Forum that, ‘it is not a corporate event but an art event and things should be in that context.

There is a fundamental shift in recent times and that shift is from art/artist to the buyer. The locus has moved from aesthetic value to resale value- from art collection to art investment. That is where work moves from the realm of aesthetic to that of the commodity. Such a situation may not promote a free and sound art culture but only a nexus between the curator, galleries as well as the buyer, and often, the artists themselves. Daniel Baumann (Director of Adolf Wolfli Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Bern) has clearly indicated the situation by saying that ‘one needs to stay away from the market if she/he wishes to be an independent curator.

Modern art, for a large part, towards its fag end became stereotypical and was made to be ‘look like modern’. Looking at the Summit one could say that contemporary art also has its share of this trajectory. What one could observe at the Summit and various other shows happening in Delhi in January 2011 is a kind of despair in making a contemporary piece of art.

Any art that belongs to a genre or an era in history would have common aspects and resemblances. Such visual codes would denote a genre of art. No period in history has escaped it. However, the work at the Delhi in January 2011 looks too deliberate and seems to have emerged out of restlessness and the desperation to be fashionable and catch up with the wagon. The trends are unbelievably funny. I do not mean to hurt anybody here and many who participated are my good friends and I wish that it would remain so even after their reading this.
It looks like a Bollywood masala mix, a formula to make an art piece. There are too many examples to miss- by the choice of themes, images, the style of execution, by the display. There is too much similarity in the visual adaptation, scale, process, and display- something like a membership to the club. On top of that, there is too much of an ‘Anish Kapoor syndrome’ and a POP infection. Of course, one can argue about similarity. All new cities are similar in many ways, all have malls and all malls look the same and feel the same. We all wear increasingly the same kind of dress and will try to look in the same ‘happening’ way. Isn’t it? What is wrong in it and what alternative conditions are you talking about, right? All news tends to be sensational and edgy. Isn’t it a common thing? Why does art alone need to be so different?


It is not easy to settle for such an argument. Many works that you see in the Summit, unfortunately, remain more as still life studies and curios than as anything significant. Many others have moved marginally only over the years (and I mean over many years). Their work looks almost the same, as it was many years before. This is not about such senior artists like Raza or Souza but those among the young and contemporary category. A large part of the remaining looked pathetic for the simple reason that they are into the lifting of forms from other parts of the world. Sorry guys, the king is naked!

Postmodernism heralds the death of the author and postmodernism is synonym with the reshuffling of the existing. So simulacra can be accommodated. Isn’t it? Or is it the other way as Homi Bhabha puts it -“Collecting art based on authorship/signature value can be a kind of a neurosis, sometimes a good neurosis”. However put, authorship is both good and bad in the current context, like many other symptoms of our time, because the irony of our time is that it is often the protagonist himself who is or becomes the antihero. To be honest, simulacra, if seen outside its euphoria, can be a limiting experience. ‘The notions of anxiety are important to an art object, says Anish Kapoor. Contemporary Indian art sometimes misses the point. In our context, the anxiety (mostly) is missing the wagon.

The absence of many who participated in its second edition was visible and notable among them was the Gallary BMB. I attended eight sessions of the speaker’s forum, four on 21st and four on 22nd, and none on 23rd. The speaker’s forum too, for the most part, was obsessed with the art market and collecting. Sessions such as the one about urban popular visual culture and making Indian modern/ contemporary and forms of public address in contemporary art were some breathers that discussed the wider aspects of art. These sessions to an extent discussed conditions that shape work, visual codes, and how artworks are shaped at a given cultural condition. The conversation between Homi Bhabha and Anish Kapoor was very enjoyable and it also witnessed the largest turn out of people. Incidentally, the presentation by the Outset had the smallest group of listeners. Though there were insights about curatorial practices, how and why people collect, and when they wouldn’t, the forum could have had more intense discussions and dialogues.

Note 01

Teaching is a full-time job. Lesson planning, individual attention, pedagogy, worksheets, student tantrums, counseling, demonstrating processes and techniques, disciplining, assessment, and report writing skills (all thanks to Kokila Katyal, Rekha Krishnan, Malvika Vohra, and Charu of Vasant Valley School) portfolio guidance, mentoring and many more! It is a huge task- a job needs great aptitude and tremendous organising and archiving skills and extreme patience.

It is challenging, hectic, and very draining, especially when you work in high-end schools like Mallya Aditi and Vasant Valley. The Other side, probably the most enjoyable of it all, is the interaction with young and brilliant brains. Adolescence and the pre-teenage group is a dynamic world of their own kind. They test and tease you to the bottom of your coolness, yet they are examples of great optimism. I am very lucky to have excellent students all through the last ten years (oops!). Most of them take up courses in Art and Design at Colleges and Universities of great repute in India and across the world. Few of them from the first batch I taught are now professionals and doing well. 

What happens is that by the end of a day at school one feels very drained. There is hardly any energy left in you, it is drained by the noisy classroom/students and by constantly talking to them and coordinating various departmental activities and reporting. Every day I get up with a lot of thoughts in my head and then by end of the day, I go to bed with a lost feeling of not being able to do any of my own work, my own creative career, the real stuff! ‘When Bala’, some good friends often ask! Meanwhile (last 10 years) young Indian Art become happening all over the world and gleaming in glory it looks brilliant. Sometimes I feel frustrated and depressed about what am I doing, or to be more correct, what I am not doing. Why I am not able to work like all others- Just to sit and work for a few hours a day for myself? I know that there is no point in cribbing, right? Better do it, Yeh?! Yes, Yes hopefully soon! Ha Ha, Bala, we've all been hearing it for some time!; the same good friends and Priya (my wife) would respond.

Jokes apart, it is a serious concern. Anyway, I do some project planning and preparatory sketching, etc… It is slowly happening. I had two shows in 2010. Meanwhile, for fun in school, I started photographing. Mallya Aditi with its beautiful walls and corridors and its environment provided me a little ‘possible space’ to shoot, without the need to stretch beyond the situation. It is an attempt to keep me sensitive to the spirit of ‘rasa’, and maybe in tune with the moods captured in the songs that I like from the Malayalam films of the 70s and 80s, the so-mentioned middle cinema. I am fascinated by its gentle charm and the evocative silence. I had two shows in 2010 which is a good development. I also get inspired by some of the projects that students do in school and a set of new works are in the process.

 February 2011