A Pedestrian's eye-view of Art

Amanda McDonald Crowley, a curator from Australia, was with the gallerists, critics and curators in Mumbai, for a one-day workshop on the problems & prospects of new media art exhibitions. The discussion went on to ' audience development'... suddenly, all of us became participants and started airing our experiences, often frustrations, about the absence of an educated 'art public'. The Kala Ghoda Art Festival (KGAF) was to start the same evening, And when it did, Kala Ghoda 'art district' was brimming with visitors, artists and art-lovers. Did our self-introspective comments prove eccentric? Our frustrations, melodramatic?

The visual art component in the Kala Ghoda Art Festival has, over the years, turned into a tactical tool for the art exhibitors -- galleries and groups of artists alike - for widening the audience base. To popularize the arts so as to infuse life in the KalaGhoda area while preserving its heritage, is the aim behind the KGAF, says Sharda Dwiwedi; the historian who has been with the Kala Ghoda Association since its inception. The pedestrians who sometimes take a peep in the Jehangir Art Gallery do not necessarily 'encounter' art on this scale: The KGAF 2003 had about 25 exhibitors. But is this scale, magnitude, as also the 'presence' of people, enough to enrich a pedestrian's eye-view of Art ? Ask Sangeeta Jindal, the coordinator of the KGAF and she will admit a few things ('yes, this year the films and music component was heavier than the visual arts, but that's the reflection of the organic nature of the KGAF as a process' -she says). Jindal asserts that the art component of the KGAF has revolved, more or less, around one major show - like 'Picasso' last year and 'Ravi Varma' this year. It's not about the adherence to the theme, but rather a celebration the spirit of these shows, she explains.

This year, Raja RaviVarma's works in the Fatehsigh Gaikwad Collection, Baroda, was the major show. Even the NGMA- National gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, abutted the priceless Baroda collection with a melee of RaviVarma's lithographs. The spirit of the Ravi Varma as the artist-entrepreneur who popularized his art was not-so visible in the KGAF-specific art shows. Archana Hande, had curated a show of 8 contemporary printmakers at Chemould Art Gallery, and it served as a good juxtaposition to the RaviVarma print vagaries. The show, titled 'artist/proof', was indeed a contemplation on the possibilities of 'print'. The curator looked for artists not necessarily trained as printmakers: those who'd rather not follow the strict limitations of a traditional printmaker. The use of 'Found' prints by Abhimanue V. G., digital transfers by Sharmila Samant and Rajmohhamad, sculptural forms within the gamut of 'print' by A. Balasubramanian and Anupam Chakraborty, were highlights of the show. The Jehangir Art Gallery had its scheduled shows, one of them being a retrospective of S. G. Vasudev's copper-plate etchings. The Bangalore-based artist was present for all 7 days and happily answered queries about his technique. In what is called the 'auditorium hall' of the Jehangir, one saw the trained and Glasgow-returned printmaker Rajan Phulari turned to painting, in a dual show with Sajal Sarkar. Artists Centre, the oldest visual-art venue in Kala Ghoda, showcased works from the last 60-odd years, and traced 'modern' art through the collector's eyes.

' A Galaxy of Musicians', one of the famous paintings by Raja Ravi Varma, was turned into the theatre on which, the story of a riot-victim unfolded. This video-installation by Nalini Malani (and her team) was shown at two venues: at the Chemould art shop during the day, and then on one of the pavement spaces after dark. The 'still' painting by the Raja, who romanticized the idea(l) of National Integrity by showing the diverse musicians (as if) playing to the same tune, was made to encounter the harsh realities of the torn dream. Malani employed narrative as well as visual streams, while the painting faded in and out, to signify the presence of a sunken ground.

Saffronart.com came out of their 'web' and showed select works from their site. The show, ' A transition of icons' in its brief curatorial note made a reference to Raja Ravi Varma's use of icons, royal portraiture and printmaking as a mass media art genre. Blame it on the inclusion of too many painters, or on the choice of individual works, or the want of explanatory notes to emphasize the curator's viewpoint, but the show did not convey the message from the century after RaviVarma-IC icons. At best, it served as a ' lonely planet thorn tree' to the topic : Raja Ravi Varma and the iconographic stream. The Raja was also remembered by the 'Philips Antiques' - they had showcased the range of print-antiquities, form hand-coloured Tanjore prints to the Hand-block print and Chitrashala prints to complement the well-kept Raja Ravi Varma litho-prints. A similar display was seen at the Bayside cafe.

Other shows did not have such references to Ravi Varma. Their concerns were different. Some cared for the public eye, others shared the festivity, there were some who sold, and some who just showed. The Bajaj art Gallery was happy with their street-event : hour-long demonstration by well-known calligrapher Achyut Palav. Tao Gallery took the opportunity to help the 'anvil design' merchandise of coffee mugs, trays and goodies with 'heritage Bombay' icons. From Ahmedabad came the Kanoria Centre for Art, to show works by artists presently in residency.

With these and other shows, the question remained : what are different curatorial concerns (if any) behind each of these shows? (Or, will KGAF turn into another 'Mela', or worse, 'trade-fair' for art? If it happens, how would the 'class' and 'mass' cultures in the area interact though art? ) There were no straight answers. It was only through an inquisitive- intuitive critique of these exhibitors' possible motives behind participation in the KGAF, that a four-pronged 'curatorial' pattern evolved :

To showcase the gallery collection/ curatorial skill within the domain of contemporary Indian visual art, is the preoccupation of galleries. The KGAF this year was no exception to that. As 'usual', there were pavement-exhibitions and paintings 'kept' in halls, by the galleries who are not from the Kala Ghoda Area, so to say, the ones off the 'art-district'. These 'mofussil' galleries included two big art-dealers : the 'Fine art resource' and 'Art Musings'. The passion towards variety prevailed, and curatorial intervention was obviously, lacking.

To Craft a public response for art via craft-items. A fine balance of functionality and artistic quality was attained by Medha Prabhakar and co-artists at the Hermitage art gallery stall.They displayed a collection of paper handbags and glass trays, which had obvious marks of a contemporary artist's intervention. The collection, inspired by botanical forms, was coupled with epigrammatic poetry by Anahita Contractor. Then there were two collectives of artists, whose keychains, bead-necklaces and thingies almost resembled the 'real-life' hawkers' curios sold near the Prince of Wales Museum - the difference, of course, induced the viewer to employ his deductive logic to arrive at 'art'. Armaan, a group comprising mainly of art-students, sold craft 'items' as a self-help measure (ask S. G. Vasudev at Jehangir, and he'd recall his days as a young artist at Cholamandal who had to depend on the copper-craft), but Armaan also has a cause- to help the lesser-privileged children. Yet another version of this crafted attention to art was seen at a whopping 3-stall pavement occupied by the gallery Art Quest. They tied up with 'inside outside' this year, and sold 'furniture painted by (upcoming) artists'. Gay colours, easy visuals and functionality were essential to these pieces.

To Articulate the need to look at art, while speaking of the issues faced by the society. Shirish Shetye's 'photojournalistic' sojourn to the city living by rail-tracks was an eye-opener. Armaan, for the cause of children, displayed some poster-poetry alongwith water-colours by Himanshu and the sculpture, 'Hunger' by Prashant. ArtQuest also chose to 'educate the public', but ended up in illustrated messages.

To cherish and nurture the spirit of the locale, by intervening right into the space. 'public art' would not be the right word for the Rhythm House window works done by the students of Empire Institute, or even for the 'flag installation' by Papri Bose-Mehta & Soham. While the Rhythm House wore a different kind of 'window display' with found objects; the flag installation lacked interactivity. The spirit of 'Public Art' was captured by 4 collaborating IFA (India Foundation for the Arts) fellows, who made huge interactive sculptures in ceramics (Stoneware). Madhavi Subramanian, Amrita Dhawan, Anjani Khanna and Vineet Kacker have evolved the designs of these four works at the pavement near NGMA. The work still stands there, and if the signature campaign initiated by IFA and the artists to make this work a permanent installation hits the right response, will stay here! This quartet of ceramists have worked on their wheels individually, but have drawn the formal and conceptual aspects of their work from a process of discussion and interaction. The scenes from the city life are turned into motifs here (Vineet has monumentalised the nearby Chappal-wallah and Shirt-seller in his cylindrical sculpture, by using icons of the things they sell ; Madhavi, in her work with three 'ghada's, has romantisized the circularity and buzz of this buzy circle in south Mumbai; Amrita has chosen to time-capsule the various professions that the Mumbaikars take to net a living, and Anjani has gazed at the bull-tough, high-rise nature of this cosmopolis. Interactivity starts when the works are touched by a pedestrian, and s/he revolves them. But even a 'commoner' would realize that the motifs are thoughtful and not just decorative.

All of them, at KGAF, have had their byte of the 'pedestrian's eye-view'. But things would not change fast. "Kya hai Bhai?" - "ART hai" has been the most common 'dialogue' between two pedestrians who peep into the Jehangir and look at a work that they would rather not comprehend as 'art'. If the Kala Ghoda Art Festival could shake and brake the notion-barriers, it is not through the 'showcase' approach!

- Abhijeet Tamhane,