SALE PRICE OF ART WORK DOES NOT MAKE AN ARTIST

State of the Art

Professor T Sudhakar Reddy who has been in the forefront for the vibrant Printmaking wing at the Fine Arts Department of Andhra University shares his experiences as a student, memories of Kala Bhavan during its hey days and his pet subject-printmaking.I hail from a farming community and was the first from my family to get educated. For some time, I pursued science from Nizam College and went back to farming in my village. But I wanted to be the field of art and decided to go to MS University in Baroda. I still remember my teacher Nasreen Mohamedi who never spoke a word but always saw to it that the creative idea of every student was nurtured. Then we had Nilima Sheik who would always guide us on art history.

Art education

It is not about reading books or copying any given form of ‘cubism’, ‘surrealism’, ‘symbolism’, ‘realism’ etc. It is an experience. It’s not about listening to lectures of our teachers, who can only guide us to bring out the talent. Art ‘resides’ in every student. There have been many discussions on how to teach students coming from villages who do not know English. According to me, art is not something that is ‘English dependant’. In India, we have still not evolved and understood the need to work within the local surroundings. Art is everywhere. Each village is a ‘Design Centre’ in itself. It is very important for us to understand and see the process that is adopted in each village by either a potter or even a mason. There is so much to learn and understand to carry out art in a creative and cost effective module. After all the cavemen never had even a light source when they carved out their expressions on the walls of many caves in pre-historic sites. It’s all about expression.

Practicing Art

Art has to be practiced by an artist for that urge and desire to bring forward his expression. Sale of that artwork is secondary. After all, once an artwork is sold, it becomes more of a commodity. It has a chance to move from wall to wall and auction house to auction house. It is no more something that really conveys the ‘expression’ of the artist.

Kala Bhavan

There was a time when ‘Kala Bhavan’ in Hyderabad used to be a happening place. Many artists would assemble there and there would be continuous camps and work taking place under the aegis of Lalit Kala Akademi. Many curious onlookers used to walk in and walk out to look at the artists who would sincerely work and share their thoughts.”

Art of Print Making

“Print Making is a very important medium of art. Lithography, Etching, Wood cut, Litho cut and Seri-graphic methods are normally used in this process. It’s very important to produce good quality works. There is no point in complaining that ‘print making’ does not have that glamorous high end market and buyers.

Issues plaguing art field

The ever growing numbers of students who come from rural background have a bright future and are some of the finest ‘Art Minds’ in this country. But many a times, I find it disappointing that some of the brightest talents get diverted towards the animation or design industry due to commercial considerations. We have still not been able to find a solution to this problem in our country. The young artists have no option but to move away due to the social situation. There is also a great shortage of dedicated teachers who can show the right path to a student and also open the creative urge within the student.

By JAYWANT NAIDU