The ingredients: A prominent gallery backing you, an effective PR machinery espousing your worth as the next best investment and then, an innate sense of being media-savvy. The dish? Instant fame! With the burgeoning art market on their side, more and more younger artists are mastering this fool-proof recipe for achieving both financial and critical acclaim early in their career. While this may augur well for Indian art in general with art becoming a serious career option, the risk is: quantity prevails over quality and, like everything else in today’s consumer-driven society, art becomes yet another commodity.
Says veteran artist Jatin Das: “Youth is the time for nurturing your talent but today’s generation is in a hurry. When every painting has a price tag and every artist part of the market place, it’s inevitable that today’s painters fall prey to the temptations of quick money and fame.”
In fact, seniors in the art world aver that an artist needs to put in at least two decades of consistent hard work before he can be judged either on creativity or market value. Says Sunit Kumar Jain of Kumar Art Gallery: “Let’s not forget that reclusive painters like Gaitonde and B. Prabha, whose prices have sky rocketed in the past few years, hardly enjoyed the same celebrity status when they were alive.” In fact, today’s best-selling names like Tyeb Mehta, S H Raza and F.N. Souza did not sell well for many decades before their work started to break auction records year after year.
But surely, art, like many other fields, must be producing its own prodigies? “Of course,” says Shobha Bhatia of Gallerie Ganesha: “You can recognise that an artist is star material from the first show itself.” Bhatia cites the example of Paresh Maity and Neeraj Goswami, both of whom have proved consistently, since the time they were launched in 1990, that they deserved the accolades they have received. “When an artist’s style is so different that it stands out from the crowd, a trained eye can gauge his worth immediately,” says Bhavna Kakar of Latitude 28, “then it doesn’t matter if you can’t sell his work for the first few shows. He is bound to capture buyer attention sooner than later.”
However, art consultant Ina Puri has a word of caution: “The path has been made easier for the younger generation by seniors who have taken Indian art to international shores. While it’s encouraging that younger talent is finding its own space, it’s always advisable to go that extra mile to make your craft prefect. It’s the journey to success and not success itself that is important.”
What has also made this journey simpler but exciting is that the market is open to accepting experimentation in technique via new technology. While Das feels that the “excessive misuse” of technology can take away from the pleasure of creating “real art that requires a physical connection”, those from the younger generation disagree. Says Mumbai’s star artist Chintan Upadhyay: “It’s a myth that technology reduces the attachment of a painter for his work. We use technology to portray the mechanization and harshness of life. Our medium may be a problem for the senior artists but we feel there should not be rigidity in art.”
Upadhyay also believes that it’s not them who have become market and media savvy but it’s the media and the market that’s chasing them. Agrees Jagannath Panda: “What’s wrong with marketing one’s art? When private collectors are willing to dabble in different kinds of work, why should we complain? Age, definitely, has got nothing to do with success.”
What’s required in this demand greater than supply scenario is “a whole load of self discipline and self-assessment without falling prey to media hype” says senior artist Rameshwar Broota.
The last word, however, belongs to veteran artist A. Ramachandran. “An artist’s worth can be valued only after he passes away. It’s a whole life’s work that defines a painter’s evolution and growth as an artist and only then can we proclaim him or her as a ‘master’.”
An extreme view? Perhaps. But as they say, nothing tastes sweeter than success and that’s what matters finally. Doesn’t it?
nice one!!!