KaliPainting by Tyeb Mehta
Recently
a European curator asked group of artist in India "But why are
Indian artists so obsessed with myths?" Everyone turned to
me as if I was the culprit. As if I was the only artist who was so
parochial still dealing/ speaking the language of myths. Not
knowing how to deal with her question ( was it a condescending one?
was it a genuine curiosity? or was it meant to suggest Indian
art has not moved beyond gods and goddesses and demons) I just asked
her to clarify what she meant by 'obsessed'.
Now
put on a back foot she said I am genuinely trying to study Indian art
for a while . But all I find that every contemporary artist at some
point in time has touched upon the themes of mythology. Hussain for
instance one of the India's greatest artist has major body dealing
with themes of mythology. Tyeb Mehta another great artist painted
themes of death and destruction through motif of Kali. And it is not
just old generation even new generation is still dabbling in
mythology take the case of Pushmala and her themes....
"Ok
I just interrupted her mid way. "I get your question"
Silence
prevailed as I began to grope for the right words. "Good
question " I said to her. I recollected an incident in my life.
When
I came to Mumbai, in order to make a living I worked as freelance
illustrator with Times group. Times group one of the leading
publishing house in India has various publications under its roof.
For instance beside political journals, they have science magazines,
women's, film economic magazines . So as a freelancer one always got
some work or other. Economic Times one of the leading business
journal paid well for single illustration but illustrating a business
story was one of the difficult tasks. At least I did not like much.
But for the sake of money I picked up the stories.
Rule
is every illustrator has to read the story before illustrating it. A
thousand word story was about business expansion plans of a prominent
business house in India. Write up was equally boring.
I
turned to good old mythic imagery. I drew a man in three piece suit
lying like Lord Vishnu and through his navel lotus various products
such as TV, washing machines, computers emerging out. The
illustration was meant to show that company was diversifying into
consumer goods such as televisions washing machines etc. Thats it.
The illustrations was published. I took my money and forgot about
the illustration.( unfortunately I never preserved this illustration
of mine. But I am sure if I look into ET archive I will
find it).
After
almost a month while walking on the footpath of Mumbai I noticed
this very same illustration neatly cut and pasted in a cobbler's shop .
I got curious. why a humble cobbler who can hardly read and write
would understand a business story. “sir, can you tell me why have
you stuck this picture in your shop” I asked him. “which one this
one?” He asked back without much interest as if I was wasting his
time. “I cut it out from the news paper that came wrapped with some
old shoes” He explained. “But why this picture? What is there in
this picture?” I was getting little impatient with him. “I liked
the idea” he was still not ready to open up “what Idea?” I
asked. He looked at me for a moment and said "I liked that bhagavan (God) comes in all forms. In old times
lord Visnu wore dhoti today he wears black suit. Today god appears
through Televisions, computers...... and takes modern form. He is
still present among us.......” words faded as he went on
explaining. I had never imagined such an explanation was possible.
But the humble cobbler had derived some profound meaning from the
image. At least that is what it meant to him. I never told him I drew that picture.
What happened was, cobbler was referring to the mythic image of Vishnu which he was familiar with and reinterpreting the new image with new context. That is the time I realized the power of myth.
It
allows an open ended interpretation. Meaning/s that might be personal
and metaphysical. When Tyeb Mehta painted figure of Kali in his painting, he left the possibilities of interpretation to the viewer who could be a
cobbler on the street or an astute art critic of contemporary art. And every interpretation is valid experience.
To
understand the power of myth you have to live the myth. Or shall I
say you have to Believe it. only than the meaning/s are possible.
Without the knowledge of myth it is just a story the way curator was understanding Mehta or Hussain's art.
To return to the question of why Indian artists are 'obsessed' with mythology. Answer could be sheer power of mythic image and its reach and possibilities of interpretation available to its people.
I turned to the curator and said, “ Honestly, I have no answer to your question” .
To return to the question of why Indian artists are 'obsessed' with mythology. Answer could be sheer power of mythic image and its reach and possibilities of interpretation available to its people.
I turned to the curator and said, “ Honestly, I have no answer to your question” .
