But, my love, there's art everywhere
Set in grand opulence, is a quiet and rather secluded and simple town in Rajasthan, India - Mandawa – frequented by art enthusiasts, moviemakers and people from a variety of different nations. Considered an open-air art gallery, packed with masterpieces in every corner, and endowed with the rich, unadulterated culture of Rajasthan – this small area makes you question the far-reaching and almost terrifying impacts of minimalism and its hit on traditional art forms.
Known for the grandeur of its havelis, the paintings strewn all around in the form of fresco art - Mandawa serves as a set for moviemakers, heaven for art and photography enthusiasts and as probably one of the richest insights into Indian culture, history and art for everyone who is here to listen. Every single wall tells a story, recites a poem and takes you all the way back into the 18th and 19th century – when art was maximalist and paints were natural – a time where every inch of the canvas told a different and rather vivid tale to the viewer.
Take a look at the image above - a beautiful painting on one of the walls in a haveli. This is just one of the paintings, and a relatively larger one amongst a variety of smaller, more intricate masterpieces adorned on the walls of the havelis. To give a base to your imagination look at the image below - an entire hand-painted wall in one of the havelis. Notice the iconography on the wall - images of gods and goddesses ushering in prosperity and luck into the lives of the then owners of these havelis.
But why stop at a singular wall? The havelis were painted everywhere - intricately painted walls, ceilings, bordered windows and doors - delicate, neat, vivid and colourful designs breathed life into these havelis and presented the grandeur of their owners to the world beyond its doors.
But time tested these havelis rather harshly, many of such havelis were abandoned, some were simply taken by locals when the owners of such havelis decided to move away from the town for that their business in Mandawa and its nearby areas was no longer profitable (Mandawa initially acted like a trading area for items from China and the Middle East) - the effects of time, heat and dust all evident on their now scarred walls. With every chipping of paint, the havelis lose a page from the books which depict their lives.
Some havelis though, are being restored, painted slowly and steadily by painters - some who have carried this art in their hands and their blood for centuries and are revitalizing them with their original techniques of beauty, others which produce versions using newer techniques - but all trying to revive the decaying art.
Time pulled another hard blow on these havelis. Notice how the look of these walls are different from what our homes look like now. The vivid colours and intricate designs are being replaced by monochromatic and subtler colours, the walls are becoming simpler and as we let go of these details, we also get rid of artists who carry these historical art forms in their blood. With each fading fresco, we leave behind a piece of history to rot, decay and eventually die - a slow, painful death by vanishing into oblivion and nothingness.
