Art Explorations

Hello ma’am

Wanted to say this in the class, but then we moved on to other things so I thought I’ll tell u my experience of art history class later some time. But feeling like writing right now.

You always keep saying that art is not to be judged by logic but experienced. I could never really understand when u said this again and again. Even when Sudarshan came in, it was quite difficult for me to understand and related to this. But the other day when Suchitra asked what is Dhruvapad, it just became so clear to me in that one moment. How could I explain her what is dhruvapad? She has to experience it, not even listen to it, to understand what it means. Yes there are so many written interpretations to literally explain what it might mean, but nowhere does it come even a little bit closer to what it actually is. There is no option but to feel it, experience it!

And then when we talk about these intangible, subtle, ‘experiential’ things, it’s another facet which becomes so so much important is the disciple itself and thorough training in it. It might sound too close ended, orthodox and typical, but I strongly believe there are no shortcuts!! Yes you talk about impressionists, the surrealists and the dada artists the modern and postmodern, contemporary artists; but somewhere it remains just an information unless and until I put equal or in fact much more effort on my side to even get a glimpse into what all this entirely means.

Yes at one level it is very important in a larger context to be able to place things correctly and understand what was happening parallely around the world, why was it happening and what it led to eventually, which to me is extremely important to understand. But when it moves to the next level of actually understanding the art, I don’t think I’ve reached anywhere yet! Specially after seeing what Sunita had to show, I really questioned myself and my fundamental understanding of what art is all about. And still that question remains and keeps troubling me. So what is aesthetics then? Ok I understand it is not about literal interpretation like what Sudarshan would put it as ‘retinally pleasing’ , it might be a reaction, a satire to a situation, an honest reflection of one’s own understanding…. At one level its about meaning making and then at another level, it denies to be even that…and it keeps on confusing me. Like Sunita asked us which one of these would you want in your homes? And personally I didn’t find any of those works which would send any kind of positive vibes to me…and I would personally never buy something that would make me feel negative…but then that’s so subjective an opinion! Art is not here to give us hope and positive vibes all the time! Aesthetics is not everything that is beautiful…..its realm just moves beyond all these subjective limited mundane expectations…..

But the moment I convert it into music, it all becomes so clear. Art could be kumar’s creation of limitless space in ‘Gagan ghata’, it could be that Chaikovsky’suicide symphony that creates a strong mood or state of mind, or it could be just a meaningless exploration for one hour hardly moving from a rishabh to gandhar in hindol when these dagar bandhus sing! And it at one level seems meaningless but then is it? The meaningless is always laden with so much meaning and even within meaning there is so much meaninglessness! It’s like the absurdness of ‘Waiting for Godot’ ! Its only when we move to the centre of the wheel that we see, otherwise we keep moving and moving, just getting more and more confused!

We sometimes put so much effort and complicate things so much to make them more meaningful and appealing, and then when we actually come across masters, we find its their simplicity and ability to understand, explore and enjoy in that simplicity that makes them masters! But like we talked about the experience vs training, to be able to appreciate this simplicity and understand the futility of unnecessary complicacies, one has to go through that phase of learning the art of making things complicated only to drop it completely later! …………AJAB DUNIYA……..JAA RIAY KAHAN HAI?.....

So this was it ! And how art history class helps me in my studio……..honestly I don’t know yet…haven’t figured out that connection, but have 100% faith that somewhere on the subconscious it is all making a strong impression which will emerge out at some time, some space somewhere….God only knows!

Ok enough of philosophy…..I should end with a practical note! J Ma’am I told you the other day of studying the galleries in India and their philosophies….well I think more fruitful would be to study major museums of art in world. Not looking into their collections but understanding their philosophies and ideologies on which they operate to understand why they choose what they choose. You think it is a good idea to do something like this? Some of them could be:

1. Musee du Louvre - Paris

2. Metropolitan Museum of Art – NewYork, USA

3. Vatican Museum – Rome, Italy

4. Prado Museum – Madrid, Spain

5. The state Hermitage – St. Petersburg, Russia

6. Paul Getty centre – Los angeles, California, USA

7. Musee d’Orsay – Paris, France

8. National Gallery of art – Washington D.C., USA

9. Centre Georges Pompidou – Paris, France

10. Tate Modern – London, England

11. Museum of Modern Art – Manhattan, New York USA

12. British Museum – London, England

13. Guggenheim Museum - New York, USA

14. Philadelphia museum of art – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

15. Art institute of Chicago – Chicago, Illinois, USA

I know it is stupidly long list, but you could suggest which ones out of these could I take for the study J