Pandemics like Covid-19 creates much
difficulties in all respects, especially in health, financial and
social aspects . It is also a time when the morale of the people is
at risk. It brought us face to face with the adverse situations and
momentariness of life. Things we took for granted, become needs to
luxuries. This was also a wake up call to all of us. Adversities are
stepping stones for newer heights through resilience.
This period was also about
human pain such as reverse migration, loss of employment, economical
difficulties, being helpless and stranded at foreign places, social distancing
etc. Even in such dire circumstances the artists kept their love for art alive.
The lack of availability of art materials made them look for alternate mediums.
Art were created even at the isolated condition. This trend of resilience
was expressed in different forms and ways through many artists in India and
abroad. A few artists expressed their view regarding the current situations.
The first thing that comes to mind is that
the artist lived this experience in his own country so we had different levels
of danger. Obviously I can talk about Italy. Here with us most of
the artists have experienced this moment of isolation as a challenge with
themselves. I am stronger than Coronavirus and my art will never be
stopped. I have purchased 10 canvases and I painted every day for many
hours and I have produced very special paintings ....
Italian Artist Claudio Giulianelli
A painting on Corona by Claudio Giulianelli
American artist Rick Hunt says: For
me,creating art pretty much is a solitary event. I am feeling OK with the
isolation because it doesn't feel like isolating myself,it is more the glory of
SOLITUDE...My art and my creative process is meditation...the act of creating
is a "ritual" that creates order out of chaos (whether it be located
inner or outer...)...My favorite subject matter is "people". When
drawing I am never alone...So, Isolating during this pandemic does not bother
me so much. I usually am up at 4:00 in the morning to draw anyway!..I have not
been focused on selling my work Bindu, for many years. I am content to present
it so people can have a dialogue with it...I DO enjoy having my work published
as books though and it is satisfying to me to see images gathered in a compact
portfolio that people can hold and take their time with...I draw every day and
during any free moment...My art has not been affected by the pandemic...
A painting on Corona by Rick “ Do not cough
in my face”
-
The art market in Udaipur is affected by the
slowdown due to corona. Udaipur is a tourists city and all handicraft ant art
shop's are closed. Most of art gallery are permanently closed. In corona
time as Iam a teacher I was on duty at the District Corona control room duty in
3 shifts. One online sculpture camp was done. Hope soon I will get one
project. So for me it is OK. " Hemant is a stone sculptor from
Udaipur and works generally in large pieces of stones like granite, marble etc.
Hemant Joshi turning the stones to beauties
Fulgor
Silvi, Performance artist and Gallery owner, PERFORMAMCE BEARD GALLERY,
Italy.
Through all this stage what stood out was the
resilience of artist’s or cultural heritage practitioners. Most of them
continued with their art work from the comfort of their homes. This in some
cases meant lack of space and seclusion. Some artists who used to do their
paintings in large canvases shifted to small works. While some artists
were constantly working on their incomplete works. others created new works.
Some artists who had difficulty to obtain paint or other materials required for
making their art works, shifted to other easily available materials as well as
unusual medium. Art came up in medium ranging from cooked chapati’s to masks.
Just like the ‘Chekkuty’ dolls made from the damaged yarns of Chendamangalam
after the flood in Kerala in 2018, painted masks became a rage with people.
Folk art such as Madhubani were the quick to reach out to people in revamped
and economical utility items as per the need of the time. Adaptability of
such art forms to the changing times can be seen as the reason for their
popularity and reason for their survival.
This pandemic, the lockdowns etc. have
atleast for now shattered the traditional business model of
galleries and outreach of the artists. The unnecessary formal canonicality
place for or of Art just vanished in the upsurge in the online outreach
events. Curators/ Galleries have come up with ideas such as webinars,
online workshops and online exhibitions. Artists grabbed this
opportunity. The spirit of resilience of artists is seen to its utmost
expression in this year, amidst the tough times.
Edited version of this article featured in
the malayalam monthly magazine Eyuthu in its September 2020 edition. The
following are the pictures of it:
