Monday, September 21, 2020

Art and Artist's Thoughts During the Corona Pandemic

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 

 

 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...

 

Rick Hunt

A painting on Corona by Rick “ Do not cough in my face” 

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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.

 





Some of the beautiful sculptures done by Sculptor Hemant Joshi during the Corona time


Hemant Joshi turning the stones to beauties

Fulgor Silvi does installations with the works of other artists who provide him their paintings, to be stuck to his beard. His intention is to display art anywhere, by shattering the concepts of galleries and specific spaces to display art. The installations are made with the works of Alfonso Caccavale. Fulgor is the owner of the PERFORMAMCE BEARD GALLERY. He is the Artist who becomes Gallery ... with his own beard (Hanging Gallery).



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:

 



- Bindu P V


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