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Tathi Premchand why not digital art understanding by Modern artist above 65yr artist. they think only paint is art ?April 16 at 7:47am · ·1
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Tathi Premchand.. it is absolutely a misconception that verges into the realm of prejudice that artists above 65 do not understand digital art. Of course, some do not and some don't want to. But many are interested and they do practice it in big way. For example, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh uses the possibilities of digital art in a big way. Ranbir Kaleka (though he is not 65+) uses it. If I consider your question as a query on why artists who have already become matured in the pre-global era desist themselves from using digital art, I would say, such a question is absolutely baseless. I can cite any number of artists using digital technology in their art. Sheba Chaachi, Anita Dube, Sunil Gupta and many others use this. In Kerala Sekar Ayyanthole keeps experimenting with digital art. So let's say age is not a thing that prevents people from using digital mediums. I know very young artists who don't even open their emails everyday. :-)
April 16 at 8:38am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Murali Raman..if you don't consider me too rude let me tell you the truth. The article was too long to be accommodated. And also it was a bit promotional. I wanted an objective approach. Hope you won't hate me for saying this.
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan @Vijay Bhandare...question could be on anything. Question in itself has an answer, so we could say that a question is the causer of an effect called an answer. An answer presupposes a question and a question has its answer. No question is ever asked without having an answer somewhere.
April 16 at 8:42am · ·
Tathi Premchand thanks Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan :) give me boots you answer, and one thing I would say, such a question is absolutely baseless. bez Johny that is why my question ? :)
April 16 at 8:43am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Shailesh Mohan Ojha.. I don't believe in rating artists. Number business is absolutely relative. However I would say Ramkinkar Baij, Sarbari Roy Choudhury, Pradosh Dasgupta, Kanai Kunhiraman, Nagji Patel, Dhruv Mistry. Himmat Shah, K.S.Radhakrishnan Kanjirappally Sreemanyesklrishnan
April 16 at 8:48am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan to Tathi Premchand..I should add Waswo's name also..:-)
April 16 at 8:51am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Sanchita Bobby..if you ask the question in public I will answer...the other one was a private message..:-)
April 16 at 8:51am · ·
Waswo Waswo X Here's one that baffles me. How does Saffronart choose which artists to auction? Of course there are always the same old names: Souza, Raza, Husain, etc....but then they throw in some young and to me quite unknown artists quite regularly. These younger artists never seem to go for high prices, so their selection cannot be for market reasons, neither are they young artists who get good reviews in the art media (or much attention for that matter). So does Saffron make these choices as a cliquish decision or personal preference?? Got any insights?
April 16 at 9:22am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Waswo Waswo X.. I am not qualified enough to comment on the workings of auction houses. However, as an art insider I have certain views on what has been happening with such auction houses. Let me take the Baconian route to answer the riddle: Some artists are made by parents, some are by galleries and some others are made by auction houses. Souza-Raza-Husain cartel has been on for some time because they are the modern classics. And the prolific nature of their creative career has produced immense amount of works that have been distributed amongst many in India and abroad. These works include good, bad and ugly. But now it is time to reap the profit of keeping it for long time. The new artists added as unexpected spices in the recipe of auctions is another game these houses play. They bulk buy artists and sprinkle them in such auctions. One they have been collected enough, the invisible forces expose them slowly in group shows and solos. Certain famous examples are there. But I don't want to name them.
April 16 at 9:34am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Marnie Dean..in fact existence is a forced situation on any living organism because they are not here on the face of earth at their will. Once you are here without your own consent, it becomes quite imperative for you to ask the meaning of your existence here. East has approached it more spiritually and the west has approached it quite materialistically. Both have reached the same conclusion. Existence is a phase or a context in transit where one is left to wonder what was before and what would be after.
April 16 at 9:44am · ·
Marnie Dean Oh I have so many more questions, especiallt after having spent last 4 hours teaching about the meaning of Dada, btw JML, I dont know if I agree with u on that one, I understand your viewpoint, ofcoarse. I just through that in the works because I thought it be difficult to answer, lol!
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan @ Avijeet Kumar Sinha.. pure art comes from a pure mind. Corrupt mind brings forth corrupt art. Most of the urban art forms are not pure. Urban artists mind get contaminated by too many ideas and too many strategies. This reflects in their art too. Folk art could be pure because the people who make it are not mentally polluted. Exceptions are there in both sides. Purity, as far as contemporary art is concerned is a non-existent factor. Some artists could say that they are pure painters or sculptors depending on the mediums that they use. Words such as pure, innocent are not theoretically possible in the discourse of contemporary art.
April 16 at 10:03am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Marnie Dean.. each question has its own embedded answer. Only thing is that you have too look for it the way Michel Angelo had looked for forms in the marble blokes. You meet three people in the world and be sure out of that two wouldn't agree with your views. But the solace is that there would be two others elsewhere who would agree with you. And your journey is to find them. Or else you be receptive enough so that they would come to you if not today, tomorrow.
Tathi Premchand Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan..pure art comes from a pure mind. Corrupt mind brings forth corrupt art. i am agree
April 16 at 10:10am · ·
Marnie Dean Lol, I actually dont need to know answer to that one, but am impressed u answered it for yourself Guru-ji, okay, here's another biggy 'What is love, where does it come from, how do u perceive, receive and define it, outside of individuals?
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Marnie Dean..Love is the most dangerous weapon in the world that brings peace in everyone's life. If you don't know how to use this weapon, it could be the most destructive one for you. Love does not come from anywhere. Nature is love and life is created out of love. In Hinduism we call it Prakruti-Purusha samyogam (union of Shiva and Shakti..sort of yin yang). We exist within love and as it is so close to us we don't recognize its existence. I receive a lot of love and give a lot too. Some people give love through gifts. Gifts are one way of showing love and trust. At the same time gifts could be used to abuse trust and love, and gain favor. Some people give it just by being silent. Sit near around (upanishad) is one way of receiving love and giving it. In our times, people express love by just being around in fb. :-)
Murali Raman I so agree with you on that Johny, Love is the mover, and its manifestations are many!
April 16 at 10:55am · ·
Nandini Das First of all I am thankful that you come up this idea to public communication…
Yes, as like everyone I have so many questions …. In today’s art world who play the most important role and how –The Dealer or Gallery, The Curator, The Artist,
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Nandini Das.. Art World is a like game of chess. Artists are pawns. Gallerists are elephants, Dealers are rooks, Collectors are horses. Museum director is the king. Most often checkmate is the result when a work of art reaches museums. Art critics and curators could be featured somewhere along with the pawns.
April 16 at 1:00pm · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Luciano Donatini..if you are attaching the question with the one raised by Nandini Das .. I need to tell you that these auction houses should be those people who conduct/watch an interesting chess game on. They don't 'produce' art but they create further value to the game of art.
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan If I were an oracle or a fortune teller or a tarot reader or even a crystal gazer, if not anyone of these at least a mind reader of the leaders of KMB foundation I could have answered this correctly. However, my gut feeling is that the biennale will take place. But it will be a state exhibition going under the name of biennale. I foresee a lot of trouble at that front....
April 16 at 1:14pm · ·
Nandini Das Very true picture ..... But 'art critics and curators could be featured somewhere along with the pawns'..... this line i didn't able to agree Johny
Lijo Jos What prompted you to do a Q&A session? It’s quite refreshing anyways! All the best. shall pop a few questions here and there if this lasts a while.
April 16 at 1:19pm · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Nandini Das..... art critics and curators have been bearing this stigma of being middlemen for gallerists and market players ever since these professions were identified and defined in the modern context. In fact the real middlemen get this fancy title, 'consultant' and art critics and curators are wrongly accused of doing dalal's job. In this scene, art critics too are pawns. But then it depends on what the individual, whether he/she wants to become a pawn or a king.
April 16 at 1:20pm · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Lijo Jos.. thought of looking into people's eyes. But I found out that people are still hesitating to ask. :-)
April 16 at 1:21pm · ·
Nandini Das what you think about art works pricing… how it should be fix: by artist name, fame, sale, time, how the work is?....
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Nandini Das....the reasonable the better, is the primary rule one should follow. The price of a work of art is a result of a chain of relationships that includes gallerist, primary buyer, secondary market players and so on. But if we see inversely, the initial price of a work of art by an artist who is not 'established' in the conventional sense, is determined by certain negotiations between the artist and the gallerist/first buyer. There are periodical and proportionate increase or decrease in pricing depending on the possibilities of acquisition and offloading of works. Unfortunately, during the boom time we saw unreasonable pricing and unreasonable selling. Artists never intervened and told any gallerist that his/her price was absolutely bloated.
April 16 at 1:49pm · ·
Nandini Das I like to know about artist point of view also... some time gallery fixt the price, they make high also….but artist didn’t protest …if someone sale one painting in high price, other day the same artist sale in low price… I feel some system should be there….
Marnie Dean I agree with the love thing Johnyml and I am a Maha Kali devotee so shiva & shakti are well known to me :-)
April 16 at 2:52pm · ·
Tathi Premchand Why not art critic in India, they just working as writer role and some of them are just fix for gallery art writer only?
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Tathi Premchand like in any other country India too has art critics. During the pre-independent times and the decades that followed independence the art scene in India had held art critics in high esteem. They were taste makers and they could tell the world that this or that artist had talent. The slowly by 90s, a set of galleries started highlighting certain critics as the 'only' taste makers'. Rest were forced to become art reviewers. The selected few soon became mouthpieces for these galleries and such agencies. There is a rat race situation now. So everyone wants to please everyone else. So we don't have art critics, only art writers.
April 16 at 5:32pm · ·
Tathi Premchand completely agree...this is good art talk fb on wall. if you give me right can i put on my compete wall on my blog..
April 16 at 5:37pm · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Jayadevan Chakkadath.. with all due respect to Paulo Coelho I would say I don't want to be one. Everyone has a path to choose. Every one has a begging bowl in his hand. He stands on a pavement and extends his hand, expecting alms. Whatever he gets, he keeps for his pilgrimage. I too want to stand somewhere, begging for love, which I could use in my pilgrimage. Coelho's path is different and mine is different. So is yours. :-)
April 16 at 9:40pm · ·
Surendran Vadakedath Sir, I don't have a question, could you please finde one for me and answer it...?
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan @ Surendran Vadakedath.. Child was not talking at all. Worried parents took him to a sage. The sage looked at the child and asked why he did not want to speak. "What is there to talk?" asked the child. Sage knew what he really mean. A friend told me this story. Osho also says, two wise people could communicate through silence. So your question and answer remain in silence that makes you a wise person.
April 16 at 9:50pm · ·
Surendran Vadakedath Sir, thanks, here the wise person is you not me,.. you proved it.. what I mean is that you ask a question which you doesn't know the answer, and then answer it..
April 16 at 10:04pm · ·
Jiwan Singh @Tathi premchand,,,Do you really believe in pure art, and currept art. Can you give name of any Artists who make pure art and currept art. (pure mind art and currept mind art)
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan @Surendran Vadakedath...each answer that I give to the questions put to me is a question that I don't know yet. When I confront these answers myself, the questions raised themselves become answer for me.
April 17 at 6:00am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Sekar Ayyanthole.. criminals are in every field. Crime is a natural outcome of power. Power, Fame and Wealth are seen interchangeable entities in our society. If you have fame and power, you assume that you have wealth also or vice versa. But it is a wrong perception. Power and fame are not related to wealth. Those people who have misunderstood the meaning of all these three entities, take some short cuts to become rich so that they could be powerful and famous. That's why a doctor forgets his oath at the medical college and start selling kidneys of the laborers. That's why a scientist sells the documents to enemy countries. That's why writers plagiarize. That's why artists organize at times even Biennales.
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Jayadevan Chakkadath.. Happiness is a state of freedom. It does not come by having coca cola or mcdonald burger. No work of art or piece of literature or music could bring absolute happiness to you. Happiness is something inside the human being and he/she needs to reach that state of being. Art, literature, music and all are tools or pathways towards that state of happiness. People do not understand or enjoy happiness because they refuse to recognize the happiness in them. I will tell you one of the stories attributed to Mulla Nasiruddeen. A man was crying. Mulla asked him why. He said, he did not have anything in the world. Mulla saw a small bag of coins with him. Mulla picked it up and started running. The man chased him down and grabbed the bag back. Mulla laughed at him and said, now you look you did not recognize what you had and what you held dear. When someone came to take it away from you, suddenly you realize you HAD it.
April 17 at 9:42am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Jayadevan Chakkadath.. there is another story about happiness. A rich man was passing by a village. His car tyre was punctured. While the driver changing it, the rich man looked around and saw a man lying on a charpoy and smoking his hukkah. Rich man walked upto him and started a conversation. Seeing the vast agricultural land around him, the rich man asked the man on charpoy who was the owner of this land. The man said it was his land. Rich man asked why he could not sell half of it and invest the money in some industry. Then, the man asked. Then you can make a lot of profit, said the rich man. Then, asked the man again. Now rich man was a bit confused. Then, you can make more money. Then, the man insisted. Rich man said, then you can go back to your village and live happily. That's what exactly I am doing now, said the man.
Anupama Vishwa most of the art works i came across in Art Summit or some recent exhibitions, seemed to me incomplete without a narration or a dialogue from the artist or a curator....is it my incapability to understand the art or the art in itself is becoming more verbal than visual...?? i was able to identify most of them like Subodh , Anish n many others because of their repetitive style and material but failed to understand the msg...for me it was more like a brand work or a logo that has to follow a certain pattern or wld lose its identity and market value.....does art always need to carry a social or personal msg or at the end of the day its just a decorative piece that wld end up in a collector's drawing room.. then why give art n artist so much respect....??
April 17 at 9:55am · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Anupama Vishwa.... I don't know Chinese language. That does not mean Chinese does not exist or it is absurd. That's a thumb rule with works of art too. Visual art has its own language and unlike other languages it does not have a fixed grammar. But most of the bad works or unintelligent work hide behind this linguistic screen. There is a tendency for the conceptual artists to make their works more text oriented than visual oriented, which is not a great problem at all. But the problem starts when an artist cannot connect with an intelligent viewer through textual or sub-textual intentionalities. An artist living in Bombay talking about Brazilian miners could be a bit stretched imagination. Even when anything is permissible in art, there should be some logic that connects the work of art with the viewer. A doctor in a mental asylum cannot be another lunatic, though he can pretend to be one to eke out results. True, artists tend to follow a style, which is not a sin either. We listen to Bhimsen Joshi. But we cannot expect him to sing like Mohammed Rafi or vice versa. Style is an inevitability when it comes to creativity. Art need not necessarily carry a social message. But as artist is a social being, his/her work cannot occur in a 'political vaccum' as Arundhati Roy puts it. A work of art has its own death; its grave is often celebrated. What we call as classic works of art are all dead objects. Poets and artists are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, as Shelly said. In today's world, it is very true. Most of the legislators are corrupt so are most of the artists.
April 17 at 10:06am · ·
Parul V Goradia Mehta Recently u had been to ahmedabad for a few days . you worked with some students there and posted a picture… saying that was the best batch ever… My question is… what makes a good student? And so far what are you best moments in teaching…?
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Parul V Goradia Mehta.. a best student is the one who makes the teacher think twice before he/she says anything in the class. Best students are the ones that makes a best teacher. I have always enjoyed teaching though I don't want to become a regular teacher (but who knows when decisions change). For me the best teaching moments are when the students' faces light up at every other passing moment and never a yawn is made in the class.
April 17 at 11:00am · ·
Anupama Vishwa i think not only visual art itself but the language of art critics and curators itself is a bit too vague and complicated for a non artist like me. And that in a way answers my question...before blaming the artists i need to learn their language n that makes me wonder if art is only for intellectuals...??? I wish understanding art was as easy and simple as listening to Bhimsen Joshi or Mohammed Rafi and acquiring an art work as cheap as buying a music cd or a good novel. Wonder if owning an art work worth lakhs give the same blissful pleasure as listening to great musicians or dancers...
Nisha Aggarwal I have so many questions but they are somewhat born out of an initial one: Why one don't have words to speak up when at the same time s/he has lot of words to write about? If somethings seems too silly to speak it becomes too logical in written form and sometimes something is too powerful in spoken words but get useless in written letters. So, Why the process and impact of spoken words and written words are different ones?
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Anupama Vishwa. .when art is vague criticism also becomes vague. Criticism at times contributes to the vagueness of art too. Art is for all and the so called intellectuals generally do not understand art. Art should be as communicative as bhimsen joshi or mohaamed rafi. When a work of art does that, or moves a person to a different plane of existence and ideation, then it is a successful piece of art. Art should be cheap enough to be bought by all. But then there is a demand and peer group pressure amongst the collectors. It has got a lot to do with social and cultural snobbery. Please see the orgy of rich posted by Premjish Achari
April 17 at 12:15pm · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Nisha Aggarwal.. words move because words have direct access to people's intellect and emotions. Some words do not the way some works of art do not move people. Generally people verbalize too much when their works do not have much to say. Some works are conceptually focused that you need some verbal explanations. But words cannot replace a work of art or vice versa.
April 17 at 12:18pm · ·
Jiwan Singh @Anupama Vishwa, If you was to understand art, Must read Art History books, Go to the Musuems, Galleries etc. try to go to Artist's Studio, talk to them.. It wll take 3 to 5 year and them maybe you will understand a little bit of art. Well established like Anish Kapoor and suboth Gupta are not repetitive style but varietion of there research and it long way and very hard to make a style of it own. Try to buy art with your budget. Everybody can buy art. Yes it is worth owing ARTS of lakhs. (of course if you have them. or ARTS of thousand, there are for all prize. Artists need you.)
April 17 at 12:42pm · ·
Nandini Das Intellectual art, communicative art, visually present art, narrative art etc… Every art have individual leagues. What are the most popular versions in today’s art scenario?
April 17 at 12:48pm · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Nandini Das.. popularity and success are intertwined notions. There was a time when popular art was considered to be the general popular as against the art that was enjoyed and appreciated by a selected cultural elite. Today, whatever is successful in the art scene is the popular too. Popular art is financially successful art.
April 17 at 12:53pm · ·
Nandini Das Art for art …. Are no senses today …. So, why we talking about pure mind art and currept mind art
April 17 at 1:14pm · ·
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Nandini Das.. I write a lot. Writing is a form of art. While writing I don't think that this would ever get published in book form. In that sense I am writing from a pure perspective and mind. There are several artists do the same.
April 17 at 1:23pm · ·
Usha Ramachandran How do you mean when you say that"Today, whatever is successful in the art scene is the popular too. Popular art is financially successful art."?
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Usha Ramachandran.. In the special context of art, its production, dissemination and consumption, popularity means its visibility among the people who are interested in art. Unfortunately, in the mainstream scene of art, only the financially successful art, that means art that brings in money gets visibility through the mediums that are supposed to give visibility to art. Of course, thanks to social networking sites, visibility of are has been increased considerably. Perhaps, in this renewed context, popularity could be attained through increasing your friends' list in facebook. :-)
April 17 at 1:48pm · ·
Usha Ramachandran :).I think you are correct..............But for the very wast majority of people- rich ,middle class or poor, art is what they can enjoy.What the 'informed ' art consumers call 'the calender art'. like bollywood and 'art movies'.
Johny Mulluvilakom Lakshmanan Usha Ramachandran.. visibility is something that makes people 'understand'. People in general like film posters and calendar art (now things are changing fast thanks to the image proliferation through television, internet and films) because they are conditioned by their overt presence in the society. After Ravi Varma, it was M.F.Husain who could gain that through sheer visibility. I think any art form could be 'related to' by people if they become an integral part of the visual discourse of our society. Unfortunately that does not happen these days. Recently I heard that some gallerists even do not want people to come to their shows. They just expect the collectors and the 'high end' people. In India Art Fair, Delhi this January, one gallerist told an artist to tell the student visitors to move away from his works so that the 'useful' people could see the work!!
April 17 at 2:37pm · ·
Usha Ramachandran This is worse than I thought Johny ! really pathetic :(.But then I am an incorrigible optimist :).I am sure these people will give way to better educated gallery owners.Dont the 'high end 'artist want real appreciation I wonder!
Tathi Premchand one gallerist told an artist to tell the student visitors to move away from his works so that the 'useful' people could see the work!!..this to sad
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
who miss Johny Ml wall..Ask me a question....let me try to answer it...:-)
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