Delhi-based contemporary artist Vivan Sundaram’s art has taken fragments of India’s social, political and environmental quandaries and woven them into an international fabric. This has been his route to imbuing activism in art.
At 71, Sundaram’s work is as charged as the man himself. As he prepares to be part of the extension of an international protest in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against the Gaza conflict, the artist says that our civil society has to keep asserting itself in various ways to counter the
passivity or negative positions of governments in power.
No stranger to saffron stormtroopers, in 2007, the artist’s alma mater MS University, Baroda was in the news when a student was arrested due to a complaint that his work on religious images with anatomical details was obscene and offended religious sensibilities. The student spent four days in jail before being let off on unconditional bail. “The potential of the right wing asserting itself with the present Prime Minister is already happening. The banning of books, for instance. There is one person who is self-appointed, dealing
with what is Indian culture and civilization and deciding what should or should not be there and becoming more and more assertive. There is a certain section of society that is happy with this CEO type efficiency. Of course, the stables need to be cleaned. Congress was not moving this way or that. But people are already saying that we have to keep watching and asserting our democratic voice,” says the artist, who is a founder member of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (Sahmat). So does creative freedom exist then? He believes it does. “It’s a question of how much you let it happen and flow,” he says and asserts that the relationship between freedom and institutional support
seems like a contradiction, but historically art has grown and flourished when there has been some support, with some exceptions. He believes the state must also help, but unfortunately it takes a very passive role.
Not slave to any particular medium, message supersedes the messenger in Sundaram’s art. His paintings, printmaking, sculptures, video art, photography and installations encapsulate issues that range from the Gulf War to the Babri Masjid demolition to the 1992–93 riots in Bombay or consumerism and urbanisation. Speaking about his famous Re-take of Amrita (2001), he says it is an ‘artist’s interpretation’ of his grandfather Umrao Singh Sher-Gil’s photographs. Through these digital photomontages, Sundaram re-interprets the late nineteenth
century to the early twentieth century photography of his grandfather, family history, and the intriguing personality of his aunt and eminent painter Amrita Sher-Gil.
Sundaram believes modern art India
has definitely been moving forward
over the last decade or so. He attributes
this change to its globalised nature and
the increasing realisation that international
art is not just Euro-American art.
And the great proliferation of biennales
has also helped. He believes the
Kochi Muziris Biennale has played a
role in putting India on the modern art
map.
Citing a recent case, he highlights the
recognition of Bangalore-based artist
Prabhavathi Meppayil, whose participation
in the Venice Biennale bagged
her a showing at the prestigious Pace
Gallery in New York.
“Art historian Benjamin Buchloh
wrote a long essay about Meppayil in a
100-page catalogue. You could never
imagine a world-famous art historian
writing about Prabhavathi. This change
is taking place. If you see many artists’
biodatas, they are moving, travelling,
participating in residencies, biennales
and various curated shows worldwide,”
he says.
A discussion about modern art would
hardly be complete without the mention
of M F Hussain, who catapulted India
into the international scene, yet died
in self-exile, unable to return to his
country. Could the government have
done more to protect the artist?
“In Hussain’s case, they (the government)
were really weak-kneed. Hussain
was Nehruvian but subsequently the
Congress became afraid that if they
seemed to support him, there would be
a backlash (from the Hindu right wing).
So it made Manmohan Singh and the
Congress distance themselves from
him, never signalling that he was a great
Indian modern artist who loved Indian
civilization and mythology more than
any other Indian artist. But they merely
said that he insulted our gods and goddesses,”
says Sundaram.
His talk in Goa, The Mediatic Turn:
Vivan Sundaram’s artworks of the last
twenty five years, saw a heartening representation
from the student community,
apart from artists and art lovers.
But the gap between the common man
and art has been something artists have
been concerned about over the years.
“Museums are a reflection of the institutional
support for culture. They attract
the general public. In a private
gallery, you may have a hundred more
visitors, but it never moves beyond a
certain level,” he explains, adding that
attempts made at the Kochi Biennale
would be a silver lining in this direction
with increased involvement from the
public, especially school children and
upcoming artists.
He believes the younger crop of
artists are providing a range of work.
“The period of ‘this is the current style’
has disappeared globally. Artists from
all over the world are players in the
field. There is a huge diversity in art
now,’’ says Sundaram.
