We exist in the most convenient of times. Life could not get any easier. Your fingers can take you through your days and with Alexa around, even that could soon become obsolete. When in dire need of nostalgia, one could fondly reminisce about the days when the tortoise did win the race, when time was measured by clocks and bright calendars on walls, when thick volumes of the Encyclopedia filled bookshelves and the postman’s arrival was a momentous event. Patience was indeed a virtue back then. The reality today, however, makes these reminiscences seem like Chapter 4 from historical fiction. Everything from food, friends or ideas (borrowed/unborrowed) is instant and so is fame, with shortcuts galore.
Social media has ensured that no one is left behind in their claim to fame. Fret not, if you have no reason to be famous — you can conjure up your celebrity status from the ordinariness of your everyday life. Your trophies from the local Fridays only Boys Club could be made to look like the Business Icon of the Year Award or you could crown yourself with titles from the Chola era, accompanied by a photograph of the honour being bestowed on you by someone with an equally pompous title.
It’s no surprise that the arts haven’t been spared too. World records for longest, funniest or 48 hours non-stop painting, participation in irrelevant shows with fancy names, art created using kitchen masalas as paint substitutes, art created standing upside down whilst balancing the brush with toes, are all being masqueraded as accomplishments to assert superstardom. You can even dole out advice for a successful art career, thus enthroning yourself as the guidance guru for artists. It does not matter if you have no clue of an artist’s journey or how success is defined in the arts. All you need is a launching ground for fame.
Today, with apps that allow you to enter virtual rooms and chat with absolute strangers about art, it is easy to convince most people that you have Rembrandt’s blood coursing through your veins. The only requirement is to create a bio-data, which lists even that apple you drew in kindergarten. Follow this up with an Instagram account with ample images of you gloriously sketching, surrounded by paints and brushes strewn about consciously, reinforced with captions about soul-searching (a Google search will throw up enough material to copy-paste from). Armed with this ammunition, coupled with the gift of the gab, you can navigate your way into chat rooms on art, subtly elevating your status from a member of the audience to an invited speaker and firmly establishing yourself as a famous, successful artist.
Art needs none of these. No loudspeakers, no carefully planned profiles or world records. The greatest artists in the world never tried to convince anyone of their greatness. They simply created masterpieces, while the world stood in silence, stunned by the brilliance of their creations. True art needs no packaging or peddling. It just takes your breath away by its mere existence. Let mediocrity strut around on delusions of grandeur.
Jitha Karthikeyan
Email: jithakarthikeyan2@gmail.com
(Jitha Karthikeyan is an artist and curator, passionate about making art accessible to the larger public)