From question to canvas: ‘Contemporary Now’ puts modern Indian art on display

Chennai, Sep 9 (PTI) “How could that be art?”—that was the reaction Chennai-based artist Maanas Udayakumar often encountered in his early years. Now featured among 37 contemporary artists from India at the ‘Contemporary Now’ exhibition at Lalit Kala Akademi here till September 17, the 31-year-old recalls how his work was “not accepted as art” by many.

Art experts say Udayakumar’s loose brushwork in varying shades of grey—breaking down traditional forms into quick, rudimentary strokes—can be located within Abstract Expressionism, the mid-20th-century art movement.

In particular, Udayakumar’s work recalls Franz Kline, one of the most important yet problematic Abstract Expressionists. During his lifetime, Kline’s paintings were often dismissed as “something done in a moment.” Only later did art historians reveal that each work was extensively planned before his house painter’s brush touched the canvas.

His oeuvre was eventually recognised as “groundbreaking,” paving the way for post-minimal practices—and, by extension, for artists like Udayakumar.

“When things were tough, I didn’t let it bother me. I just kept making art that excited me, that I thought was relevant to what’s happening today,” Udayakumar told PTI.

In his “varying shades of grey” series, he allows viewers to see what they want — a curling cat, a human figure, or a flower. But when he wants to make a point, the abstract takes a definite form. About three months ago, his bold strokes teased out snarling dogs, perhaps reflecting the moral dilemma India faced over its stray dog population, following a case taken up on its own by the Supreme Court.

“Contemporary art is rooted in the issues plaguing society now—from environmental to political,” said Ashvin E Rajagopalan, curator of Contemporary Now and Director of Ashvita’s in Chennai, one of the five participating galleries along with Chatterjee & Lal and Chemould Prescott Road (Mumbai), Experimenter (Kolkata), and Vadehra Art Gallery (New Delhi).

Rajagopalan said contemporary art is often misunderstood as “totally whacky.” “There’s a stereotypical understanding of contemporary art, of artists throwing paint on a canvas and splashing it. So, we put together very mature, well-rendered, and well-thought-out works of 37 artists, showcasing high craftsmanship, to dispel that myth,” he told PTI.

That seriousness is reflected in the work of Bengaluru-based artist Archana Hande, who recently moved back from Mumbai and uses multimedia—installation, drawing, and video—to express herself.

Her work at ‘Contemporary Now’ includes a block-printed storyboard from her video art, All is Fair in Magic White. Measuring 6x4 feet, it comprises 19 beige textile panels with finely detailed block prints that explore the struggles of migrants moving from small towns to big cities.

She has used one of the subcontinent’s vanishing crafts, block printing, to highlight two contemporary issues—the struggle of migrants to adapt to big cities and the decline of traditional crafts, as artisans move to urban areas in search of better livelihoods.

Though Hande said she belongs to the category of artists who manage to “connect with people,” she acknowledged the challenges contemporary artists face in a society that often rejects what it does not understand.

“I feel the artist community is equally to blame for this stagnation. We have turned art into an elite space by over-intellectualising it. Now, people are terrified of it,” Hande said.

The solution, according to her, lies in more initiatives such as Goa’s Serendipity Arts Festival, Kochi Biennale, Bengaluru Hubba, and Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, which take art out of elite spaces and make it accessible to the public.

“The success of Bengaluru’s annual ‘Chitra Santhe’ is a perfect example of what the democratisation of art can achieve. I feel people attend because of the subtle wordplay in ‘santhe,’ which is colloquial for market and puts them at ease,” Hande said.

Rajagopalan said they did not expect to convert the crowd overnight with ‘Contemporary Now’.

“It will take the audience 10 to 15 years to fully grasp contemporary practices. But the fact that this is our highest-attended show must mean something,” Rajagopalan said.

For Udayakumar, the sale of 70 per cent of the works within the first two hours of the ‘private view’ is a positive sign for the Chennai art scene.

“The city that produced great Modern Masters is not doing well in contemporary times, mostly because artists find it more profitable to get into animation and show business. Perhaps that will change in the future, and the Madras School of Art will churn out masters again,” said Udayakumar. PTI JR SSK