CHENNAI: Grossly misunderstood and barely taken seriously, art and artists have most often been wrapped in cloaks of myth. While the world’s perception of most professions that exist today, is crystal clear like the sparkling waters of a gentle stream, Planet Art has remained the blurred image that eludes the lens of society’s telescopes to exist in peripheries of mysterious darkness. Read on to step into the light, if you please.
Myth No. 1 : Art is a hobby
“Do you still paint?”, “Where do you work other than paint in your free time?” — sample these commonly asked questions to artists. It is a fact that art has never been given the exalted status of a serious career. Often considered that tranquil space one goes to when life is kind enough to offer it, there certainly must be some ‘real’ job one does for a living. Art obviously can only cater to the brief stops from running life’s marathons when one catches one’s breath while giving colour on canvas to a rural landscape never experienced. Thus rejuvenated, the journey to conquer the next marathon continues. This myth is so deep rooted that hardly an Indian family would permit their offsprings to consider art as a vocation. Unfortunately, it is this version of art as a leisure activity that is widely visible, livening up boring afternoons. Truth is, art is a profession too that requires intense dedication and passion, far removed from the drudgery of monotony.
Myth No. 2: Artists are an indisciplined lot
A mere glance at any Indian movie or story that has an artist role embedded in the script is proof enough of the existence of this myth. Clad in loose fitting kurtas made of potato sacks, hair unkempt, high on alcohol, higher on drugs, floating way above ground reality, the artist character eternally sits under the vast blue sky, waiting for inspiration to rain down from its blueness. With households to run and bills to be paid, no artist in real life, however, can afford that patient wait. We work in our studios towards deadlines with maintained discipline. The potato sack may be our work attire to cope with messy surroundings, but there’s nothing that stops us from shopping for an Armani.
Myth No 3: Artists conversations = Boring philosophy
Any artist, who strays into a group discussing the brilliance of the final fight scene in the latest Kollywood blockbuster and goes on to contribute an opinion, is invariably met with exclamations of incredulity. This standard reaction is again thanks to the propagation of another myth that artists talk only art, literature and philosophy. Though these topics do infiltrate our exchanges, we are equally at ease debating trending hot scandals and gossip.
The list of such myths runs longer than these lines can hold. It may take decades still, to clear foggy visions and place art amongst other serious careers. But surely and slowly, a day will dawn when artists are liberated from these chains of myth. Until then, we shall patiently wait under that blue sky!