by Diwan Manna
What ails art education?
What does it require to become an artist?
Instinct, intuition, knowledge, understanding, talent, skill, sheer genius or
a combination and the capacity to process all of these?
When young students take up the challenge of becoming an artist, enroll into
departments of art or a college of art, in India, they are exposed to
the world of modern and contemporary art and that too mostly western.
During the short journey of students, who mostly hail from rural or small-town backgrounds–barely familiar with the option of art as a profession or form of expression—they lack exposure to the due processes of discussion, training, and guidance. The sudden shift from their experiences of the leisurely pace of creating art at home, school, or college youth festivals to the domain of the subconscious,
ambiguous, unexplained, and at the same time-calibrated world of High Art, is
bewildering to them, to say the least. The transition from realistic to abstract is
too sudden.
Although abstraction, as much, is a part of human existence and expression, it
is not easy to practice it, as a form of expression, in art. Whereas realism often
seems predictable and abstraction opaque – not leading to any clear
understanding—the fact remains, that there are many unexplored experiences that can find expression only in the abstract– much beyond the world of realism.
How to plug this gap between a creative mind and its training to use the
tools, vocabulary, and the grammar of the medium? To lead them into listening
to the inner voices and creating a symphony while segregating the rhythmic
patterns of life from the cacophony around and recognising the
finer nuances of the process of creativity!
If we wish to encourage original thinking in our visual art practices then
the institutions need to rethink their syllabi and creatively walk the
students through different genres of art–the folk, traditional, miniature, Ajanta, Ellora, Gandhara, oriental, African, aboriginal, tribal, and so on, to finally lead into the realm
of the contemporary.
Worrisome facts about the lack of women artists as professionals?
Going by the limited data that I was able to access about the number of
professionally active women in the world of art or participating in the exhibitions
and giving expression to their experiences, it is surprising that the number of
girls studying art outnumbers boys. Young women participating in and even
winning awards and scholarships also mostly outnumber their male
counterparts. It is heartening and encouraging to see their enthusiasm; bubbling with
creative energy that gives them an opportunity to show their talent.
But, when it comes to the professional section, the number drastically
drops down. When senior artists are asked to suggest the names of female
upcoming and established artists, it becomes increasingly difficult to find
creatively active women artists in the region.
Reason? Is it the skewed sex ratio, or the existence of female foeticide? It is
perhaps the attitude—age-old social prejudice against the female sex. Earlier they were expected to get degrees and become housewives. Now they are expected to get jobs and become earning members of the family, and perform their official duties
as far as it is essential to retain the job. Their professional commitments
end at the doors of the office. At home, they are wives, sisters, and mothers ONLY.
At home, they are expected to do everything that a woman was supposed to do
even in medieval times. A plethora of talent is being wasted and a major
section of society is being deprived of their true contribution to building up a just and fair society.
How long are we going to let it go on like this? Who will challenge the status
quo?
Diwan Manna
Artist and President
Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi
Chandigarh
10 November 2019