#postcolonialhangover

[richardwilliamsuniverse]

#communication #thehistoryofthepeoplefromtrinidadandtobago #postcolonialhangover #streetart #Romania #dialogue #struggles #domesticviolence #end

[awallettokeepyourpovertyin]

[yaminideen]

"Why is Husain India’s Picasso and somebody else India’s Rembrandt?"

Photo: Shailendra Pande Manjunath Kamath, 40, created a series of animated water colour images from day to day life titled, well, Common Things. The artist who trained in Mysore before moving to Delhi over a decade ago, speaks to Yamini Deenadayalan about his quirky titles, the odd rabbits in art parties and why we should get rid of our postcolonial hangover. 

Why animated water colours?

I work with all kinds of media. Common Things is just an extension of my previous work. I wanted to make water colours move. Each frame out of three hundred is hand painted water colours. The subject of each is very simple—objects from day to day life. In art, I don’t feel the need to use ‘issues’. They all tell a story. I use images like that of an iron box. Whoever looks at it can connect to it easily. Art is not something so big. It’s in the everyday. Common Things, Marriage in May—your titles are often quirky and humorous. Is this how your friends describe you? If you ask my friends they would say that when I am around, there is always laughter. I guess that’s where it comes from. All my titles are a comment on society. I often start with my titles. For example, you must have seen the rabbit in the party image. When I go to art openings, I always found that one person who stands in a corner. He doesn’t behave in his element. It’s almost like he feels like a rabbit. I derive these images from my observation of people. One of my past works was titled Someone who quoted more than 100 books in his talk. You talk to a friend and they refer to so many books. I want to ask them what they have got from their own experience. To me, what comes from my own experience is what is important. Are you making a comment on Delhi’s art circle? For me art is a kind of a comment. That is my expression. I am not making any statements. I am merely holding up a mirror to the viewer. I enjoy the way children respond to art. My first critic is my daughter. If I show children an absurdist image, they enjoy it for what it is. Grown ups want logic.