Delhi Sketchbook - JohnyML

Road Not Taken

The other day I was talking to my friend and editor of another art magazine. I have not taken the permission to name the person. So I keep the identity a secret. Did you say, there are no secrets in the art scene? Yes, if so guess who. I was just mentioning the road trip that I am going to undertake by mid February 2009. I am planning to hit the road in a Force Tempo Traveler redesigned as a caravan. Baroda based art collector and industrialist, Kishu Chauhan has kindly given me this caravan to strike the road. Artist Somu Desai and photographer and web designer, Feroze Babu would accompany me in this trip. Many artist friends have agreed to join the trip as and when it is suitable for them.

Our idea is to start from Baroda and cover the small towns in north-central India and visit the art colleges located in these places. It would be interesting to ask a few questions regarding Indian contemporary art (or in that case modern art too) to the students and teachers of these colleges. The idea for this trip came to me almost one year back when I visited an art college in Amalsad, a small town near Surat. I had the opportunity to talk to the students of this college quite extensively. To my surprise I found that these young and vibrant students with lot of talents did not know much about Indian contemporary art. Some of the teachers knew certain names and certain works.

A college, which is located between two art centers namely Mumbai and Baroda, seemed to have no idea about the changes happening in the art scene. Most of the students who passed out from these colleges joined the textile mills in Surat and some of them became art teachers. I found one former student, even after doing his higher education from Baroda, running a tea stall near his alma mater. My decision to visit the small town colleges in India occurred then and there. But the question that has been haunting me ever since is this: Are these students (teachers also) ignorant of the changing times? Or is it the failure of Indian contemporary art in penetrating the minds of the people (if not in general at least in the minds of the art students elsewhere in the country)?

Then came the issue of language. Vernacular students find it difficult to access contemporary knowledge because our art discourses are mostly in English. These Vernis (a term coined by my friend and art critic Anubhav Nath) never gain the confidence to go to big towns and learn things. Nor do they take the courage to know more about the art in India while they are studying in the college. Linguistic disparity could be one of the reasons for the laidback status of these regional art colleges. But that cannot be considered as the perennial problem. There must be more to it. The trip is meant for finding an answer (if not a few answers) for this insularity and exclusivity of Indian contemporary art. Also it would give us a chance to understand what kind of art these people are practicing in these small towns. What are their desires and aspirations while going through the academic training in art? Has our art education system changed considerably from what the late 19th century British educationists had designed?

Let me come back to my friend’s response to my idea. “It is a very romantic and exciting idea,” my friend said. “I would send you the details of my itinerary,” I said. “No…no.I am a Five Star person. I cannot take the hazards of the road,” said my friend with deliberate exaggeration. My friend assured all support and told me a one of the personal experiences.

My friend had done the BFA course in Chandigarh. Seeing the plight of the art history department there, my friend decided to offer teaching services to the college. They invited her to teach and she proposed the idea of inviting contemporary artists to take classes for the art students there. Then came the major questions: ‘What is contemporary art? And who are these contemporary artists?” My friend suggested the name of a senior artist, who is known for his abstract works. Let me name him: Prabhakar Kolte. Soon came the question. “Is he your friend?” This question came from the senior teachers of the college. “No, he is quite senior. But I can invite him on behalf of the college,” my friend said. And she did invite him and he readily agreed to visit. But the teachers put the hurdle again. “We don’t know this artist. Can he give some water colour demonstrations?” they asked. “Call Sanjay Bhattacharya or Paresh Maity. They would be able to give some water color lessons to our students.”

My friend confesses: “Prabhakar Kolte is s pedagogue and a well known artist. My idea of inviting him was purely based on his pedagogic abilities. But….I think small town colleges have some problem in understanding contemporary art. The smaller the college, the bigger is the internal politics.”

There is some truth in it. If small colleges have nasty internal politics, can big art colleges be far behind?

But I don’t want to wait for the poetic justice to take place. I just want to see the small town art colleges in reality. I want to see those interesting students and teachers, who perhaps want to learn more and do more.

This road trip might find some answers, may be not. But the experience would be a lasting one, I am sure.

PS: After our visit and discussion in Amalsad College, Somu Desai, an Alumnus of the same college took up a personal initiative to collect catalogues and books from galleries and artists’ studios and contribute to the college library. And he regularly conducts workshops for the students without taking remuneration or credit. I think it is necessary to appreciate such efforts.