Art movements, trends and fashions are iffy, whimsical things, states Madhu Jain, who takes a ramble through the decades to find what is motivating creators in the subcontinent today.
I still recoil from the finality with which the French painter declared, “Painting is dead. Apres Cezanne, rien — nothing!” this was a few years ago and the emphatic Parisian painter had recently laid down his easel and paintbrushes and picked up a pair of scissors and coloured paper. It was easier for young and (even more so) middle-aged artists to follow in the wake of Henri Matisse during his paper-cut-outs phase, towards the end of his life, than Cezanne with his masterful strokes and painterly contemplation of apples and mountains — and the revolutionary multi-perspective of his subjects.
Art movements, trends and fashions are iffy, whimsical things: when do they begin and when do they end? Hard to say, right? From the obtuse, jargon-studded prose of art theoreticians and critics to the simplistic, generalising overnight critics corralled by many publications and online portals to write about the contemporary art scene, and, of course, the art market — it’s confusing and deliberately opaque.
Each generation thinks it is bringing down the barricades and raising the bar. ‘The king is dead, long live the king’ declare the successive proclamations and manifestos about new movements. But if you rewind to the past, to art history lessons and memories of cruising through museums and galleries in Europe, the United States, India and elsewhere in Asia, you realise that transformations and transformers have always been active. Rarely is something ever really new: someone’s been there before you.
COMPUTER-SAVVY BREED
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July-August 2018 من Verve.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July-August 2018 من Verve.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Making Amends
This generation’s penchant for thoughtless consumption gets Madhu Jain roiled up, and she wonders if nature is getting its own back for our missteps…
Diamonds With Provenance
In keeping with the company’s commitment to environmental and social responsibility, Anisa Kamadoli Costa, chief sustainability officer at Tiffany & Co. and chairman and president at The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, enlightens Shirin Mehta on the efforts that make the jewellery giant an industry leader in transparency
SARTORIAL ECONOMICS
Sisters Tashi and Tara Mitra demonstrate to Akanksha Pandey how deviating from the mainstream can bend the way we think, live and dress
NOTES TO SELF
An anthropomorphized tiger’s perspective, a viscerally worded futuristic interpretation of loss, a critique of performative activism, a meta reflection on the earth’s crises. Told through different lenses, Janaki Lenin, Indrapramit Das, Keshava Guha and Roshan Ali’s stories — written exclusively for Verve — attempt to make sense of the fraught reality that we exist in today
The Eternal Optimist
As Generation X and xennials grapple with fully transitioning to conscious living, young millennials and Generation Z are leading the charge to reverse human-caused environmental damage. Sahar Mansoor, founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based zero-waste social enterprise Bare Necessities, has a simple overarching philosophy: consume less and stay positive. Verve gets deeper into the mindset of the action-oriented earth advocate
Redemption SONGS
Indian music festivals have been demonstrating a refreshing sense of responsibility in terms of their ecological impact. Interacting with stakeholders who strive to make these large-scale events greener, Akhil Sood investigates the reasons behind the improved attitudes of audiences and the increase in corporate support.
earth hour
Crafted using nature’s elements, these dials draw inspiration from the many heterogeneous materials and hues around us.Verve turns its lens onto a mesmerising few
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Children are holding adults accountable for both the grim future they are facing and the toll this is taking on their mental health. Madhumita Bhattacharyya initiates conversations with families of young climate activists and observes the extent to which parenting has changed in the face of catastrophe
NATURAL JUSTICE
Most of us are only just waking up to the urgency of climatic action. When the stakes are so high, what can individual action solve? Mridula Mary Paul, an environmental policy expert, is proof of the tenacity needed to effect systemic change. It’s not glamorous, and the rewards are few and far between, but that doesn’t stop her from aiming big, finds Anandita Bhalerao
Along For The Ride
Navigating Indian streets as a woman is hard enough. But what is it like while riding a bicycle? Bengaluru-based Shreya Dasgupta, a regular cyclist, speaks to five urban women about the pros and cons of this increasingly popular means of transport.
