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Towards Ananda: Rethinking Indian Art and Aesthetics
New study on contemporary Indian culture, art forms,and daily life. excellent production
304 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2006
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February 5, 2016
I was tempted to give it a 3 star but then settled for a 2. Shakti Maira writes in great detail on a wide range of topics dealing with art and aesthetics in India. His travels across India and his disappointment with the general loss of aesthetics in our day to day life in the context of our rich classical and artistic heritage was pretty engrossing.
The chapter dealing with his view of the problems facing Indian art, aesthetics and his staunch opposition to the fad of nouveau art forms which evolved in the post-Duchamp era and which are now the rage in the west - video art, Installation art etc was a bit high brow for me. But what irked me the most was his sermonizing tone when it came to more down to earth topics such as art education in schools, Indian art today and other similar areas where he feels a fresh dose of oxygen is needed. These sections could have been more effective had they been concise. His observation that modern life is making us more and more two dimensional (books, reading, television, PCs etc) thereby making us lose the ability to appreciate three dimensional art made me thinking.
A nauseous part was where he speaks of art being a possible vocation even for the "have-nots" and not just a pastime for the rich and then immediately goes on to narrate how he managed to buy a custom made Merc at the age of 32 during a World Bank stint at Colombo before 'leaving' it all to pursue art. Cheap point to make, from someone who studied Buddhist art and thangka painting!
The chapter dealing with his view of the problems facing Indian art, aesthetics and his staunch opposition to the fad of nouveau art forms which evolved in the post-Duchamp era and which are now the rage in the west - video art, Installation art etc was a bit high brow for me. But what irked me the most was his sermonizing tone when it came to more down to earth topics such as art education in schools, Indian art today and other similar areas where he feels a fresh dose of oxygen is needed. These sections could have been more effective had they been concise. His observation that modern life is making us more and more two dimensional (books, reading, television, PCs etc) thereby making us lose the ability to appreciate three dimensional art made me thinking.
A nauseous part was where he speaks of art being a possible vocation even for the "have-nots" and not just a pastime for the rich and then immediately goes on to narrate how he managed to buy a custom made Merc at the age of 32 during a World Bank stint at Colombo before 'leaving' it all to pursue art. Cheap point to make, from someone who studied Buddhist art and thangka painting!
Displaying 1 of 1 review