THROUGH THE
EYE OF AN ARTIST
Kasturi Bhaskara Rao
Great Art is something to be appreciated not only in the moments of solitude and concentration, but also in our flying minutes of business as we go about our daily lives. Art should be a thing of not only Art but also of Life.
An Artist reveals himself gracefully, combining aesthetic insight with a spiritual fervour. His dreams, hopes and aspirations of life in the process of self-analysis based on some hard truths only depict deeper truths on canvas.
Painting is a creative impulse transmitted from one human mind to another. It is an isolated activity where one places oneself above the masses. Completely unattached by hard reality, the Artist tries to view the world in a detached manner pumping in the metaphysical in good measure. This process of self-analysis is based on some hard truths. Canvas depicts the deeper truth.
The making of the image was more important than the idea of the image itself. One has to impart a great deal of discipline in painting to develop a good body of work.
Every Artist is a part of a process of expanding and contracting of establishing well delineated forms and their dispersal between evident planning and clarity. This affair of life and death is as much a mystery as the urge to draw and paint a mystery that makes itself felt only when the Artist has accomplished a painting which is beyond his known abilities. The creative spirit has been the same for centuries and will be the same for ages, only a deep rooted aesthetic sense is essential for anyone both to produce and appreciate art.
Artists might have nothing to say through paintings....He need not make a statement but what he wants to express, strive to say in the minimum forms and colours. He has to say and the manner in which he expresses his thoughts so soulfully and so sublimely is most important. Too much of versatility can sometimes blunt the edge of true evolution of technique in anyone medium. Self immersion in a broad but legitimately limited sphere of activity has been known to be conducive to development and progress. One should watch how the intelligent young contemporary painter is going to extricate himself from the mesh of confusion.
Art is both a mirror and a window. Even the rigid discipline could bring insight rather than indulgence. Some Artists have produced works to meditate on, to concentrate with the awareness of a world other than the one the Artist creates in his pictures is a sign of maturity in an Artist. He portrays his own world and the only things he knows or the only things he can ever know. He portrays with great fidelity and high competence, at a time when Artists attempt to make their creations real to themselves and convincing to others in terms of the two worlds, that of modem and that of traditional.
The Artist is the “Seer” who apprehends Beauty everywhere establishing contact with Reality (Sathyam Ritam) expressing it through integration of forms and sense. This is the “Sadhana” towards ultimate Bliss-the sense of perfection something well done, a feeling of higher sacrifice and divine “Ananda” - Artist transforms the ordinary into rich visual experiences. Dimensions of life make the universe seen by him one has to work out his ego problems, adjusting to his different temperaments, before one could start out any creative aspect.
“The two most engaging powers of an Artist are to make new things familiar and familiar things new,” thus Samuel Johnson remarked about the talents of Artists. Creativity is a form of behaviour much of which comes from the “unconscious”. Many personality traits expressed in creativity are inherited and one cannot simply fake them - the will power, energy, determination and emotional strength. Paintings are visible expressions of behaviour. They reveal emotions, integrity, basic temperament, social attitudes etc.
Man moulds art, art moulds man - both physically and psychically. The influence of art over man has been flowing from time immemorial in all times. The greatest use of life is to dedicate it for something that will outlast life itself! Creating is to bring something new into being, it may be a discovery or a piece of art. Creativity should be rewarded. Fantasy should not be discouraged.
The most important asset of any artist is the confidence reposed in him by the people. He is one among them - he needs only recognition. Love of Man and love of Freedom, a deep commitment to the welfare of humanity and respect for its aspirations - this should be the spirit of an Artist who weaves into texture of his creations. His subjects should be deeply rooted to the soil and courageous to attempt to change the world through his message.
Perception and creation are both complementary and not contradictory to each other. Sometimes an Artist has to address himself to bigger challenges and in the process has to look for unconventional ways of expression. Art is the finest aspect of culture, culture is the finest aspect of human life, hence art is the finest aspect of human life!
An Artist can make us aware of a whole range of new things. But new things do not merely mean new forms of expression. Most modem Art or modern Poetry, fiction is bogged down with the craze for novelty of expression. But some seem to be so impoverished and empty inwardly. There are people who have extended the boundaries of our experience through the undaunted pursuit of their dreams. The best way to repay the debt is by doing the best in our own way, in our own line.
Philosopher, saint and statesman Dr. S. Radhakrishnan once defined the creative life -“Let us live in the world of time, have the perspective of the eternal, discipline ourselves so that every act we do, we do it as a dedication to the Eternal----And all our activities are to be utilised for the purpose of producing a better life, a creative life in which every man will have more amplitude of existence, more richness of being, more fervour of friendship.”
Art by its universality spreads the message of cooperation and understanding of a common world and shared interest of the people. Truly beautiful creations come when right perception is at work. If these moments are rare in life, they are also rare in art. March of science and ethos of modern civilisation inevitably influence contemporary forms of art. Nature in its pristine form has been a source of mystic inspiration for art. Philosophy and religion have also provided materials for artistic representation.