Patronage Panga

Many artists today display shifts in imagery and medium. So you have tribal art painted on canvas or a DK encyclopedia being used for colour...

Patrons. It always helps to have some around. And if you look closely at the arts, it isn8217;t only about commissioning works or performances, as we ought to know by now. But does patronage in itself result in invigorating the practice of art?

Recall a recent controversy8212;that of artists allocated government housing. If you8217;ve been reading this newspaper regularly you8217;d know there8217;s been a huge public discussion on how allottees of government houses in the Capital never vacate them. Among those listed in this group were well known and respected artists who had worked hard and mastered their craft.

When you get a government house, a fellowship, an assignment, or a commission, the state is acting as your patron, egging you on to work. This may have been critical till the 8217;80s, when even distinguished artists had very few options.

But take a look at things now. Art prices are booming all over the world, and a new salaried class of buyers is looking at art as an investment. Previews and openings have high budgets for concerts and performances. Even the United Nations Development Programme recently celebrated a landmark year with a spectacular Hindustani classical music concert. Undoubtedly, there are more funds and spaces available to explore various media innovatively.

Clearly, a much richer system of patronage has emerged, choosing its own artists of distinction. Most of these artists don8217;t have sarkari homes. Surely, distinguished artists of the 21st century don8217;t need subsidised housing. In the traditional arts, a different kind of patronage is seeping in, if only at the fringes.

Many artists today display shifts in imagery and medium. So you have tribal art painted on canvas or a DK encyclopedia being used for colour references and contemporary narratives. While some artists have made the shift themselves, some recent narratives are less spontaneous. Traditional painters who painted scrolls of HIV, the 9/11 events and the tsunami make a huge departure from traditional imagery in their depiction of violence. Many of them say they were asked to paint such themes because it was possible at that time to provide a market for them and it was considered worthwhile to procure the works as an interesting deviation from the typical.

Experience tells painters that contemporary themes fit into a niche market. A painter from Bengal recently mentioned how important it was to think of new stories to feed this smart market. When one compares his family8217;s work on two catastrophes8212;the tsunami and the Kashmir-Pakistan earthquake8212;one is struck by the almost identical imagery. So have they already developed formal codes to represent calamities? Have some of these new ideas already become part of his repertoire, indicating not a freak diversion, but an important change of course? Only their next work will offer us an answer.

Like scribes and the electronic media, audiences and markets appear to have nudged these painters to seek new stories. Patronage from the nifty set here has actually caused a diversion in the flow of ideas and images. It8217;s not a bad thing at all, but it suggests how even small markets can cause important shifts.

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Only the government has enabled these artists to show their works in spaces such as Dilli Haat and the Craft Museum in New Delhi which are the only two worthwhile and energetic spaces where artists can actually interact with their buyers directly.

There is a lesson in all of this: The terms of government patronage must be re-worked because of the new role of the market. Providing houses will never result in pathbreaking art. Dilli Haat can. So can a better quality arts education in schools, expanding the existing Ministry of Culture fellowships and making institutions like the Lalit Kala Academy more accountable and open to new ideas.