The Unknown Artist, Who They Are
How and where they have resided as part of human society and their contributions to its culture.
‘The Unknown Artist: A Journey Through Time’ is a ten part series which builds a narrative around the practising artist and their journey through the ages: from the medieval, through the colonial and the modern to the present ‘post-modern’ times, in what is now the Indian subcontinent. It is said that art reflects the situation and polity of a society, and history is made by grand narratives. This story tries to uncover the motivations and obligations of an unknown artist in their time — what they were born into and who they had as patrons to help them sustain through their art.
Primary Research for the facts and interpretations has been majorly done through visits to the National Gallery Of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi and Mumbai, over a period of six months, with secondary research on the internet to corroborate and validate these interpretations.
A special mention to Arko, the art curator at NGMA Delhi who took time off to give me a thorough tour of the premise and indulged in a comprehensive discussion and dialogue, which has helped shape a solid foundation to the narrative and a steady direction.
Part 0
For the prequel to the narrative
Part 1
The unknown artist has always been a student of art and will remain so,
for their discipline binds them to it.
As does their love for expression
And for those who imagined their own into life.
For others to observe.
The unknown artist could not transform into peaks of mountain ranges. They are not the distinguished few
Who gain a level of spiritual expertise in what they create
and the freedom to depict whatever they were moved by.
The peaks are those enlightened souls
Who, through what they create, open up the portal for us to journey in Into their spirit realms –
And in this,
echoing our own un-channeled realm of the non visible.
With their creations, they hold us.
Their work has the capacity to move anyone who would watch, They are masters of vision and collected sights.
They are those about whom others have written about..
The peaks have names.
The peak comes from within the range.
The unknown artist is still in the mountain ranges from which those peaks arise, forever students who couldn’t necessarily develop into their own. Striving for the freedom to depict whatever they are moved by,
In their struggles,
They have helped forge history, and amongst them,
moved many a mountains.
The unknown artist is at the mercy of the times, the people, the culture, a patron. They’re the apprentices, the professors, the contributors to a genius,
The small ingredients which make up a big dish,
The small hillocks and ranges which contribute to the mountain.
And hence they move on with every changing moment,
Acclimatize and adapt,
Always at the center of the magic,
As apprentices to the masters, Making ends meet,
trying to sustain a life through their visions, Hoping someone would find value in their work, Sometimes betraying that work for more value,
Constantly living and torn apart by these doubts,
To be true to oneself while still appeasing and gaining from the material settler. Their centers have constantly changed, and so have their patrons.
The unknown artist is at the mercy of the flow of the times, and has not been able to sustain on their own without it. The unknown artist has, to that effect,shaped the flow of times.
From the unknown artist,
we may catch a glimpse of the flow of these times,
the ever changing direction of what is considered to be of value,
of worth and importance,
that which has been allowed to grow and sustain by society as a whole.
In the unknown artist can we see the history of our time, what inspired and moved our kind to reach where we are, what we chose and what we discarded
Our ever changing quests and aspirations along the way.
This unknown artist,
the ones I have followed,
were found at first,
practicing their skills during the times of monarchy,
or the rule of one.
I followed their trail into the age of trade and interest,
where they were exposed to the ways of the Company,
The colonial establishment which would bring in the colonizers from a Western World,
And their culture and perspective with it.
Through the unknown artist I have sneaked into a journey of protest and expression, freedom, and awareness of their own form,
A realization into times where I find you in, Your present,
or your past,
or soon to be your past.
The unknown artist hurtles on towards the future,
giving in to that inexplicable pull
which has made them relentlessly pursue their form since time from a further past.
You might catch up with them before I take you further into your future,
a potential glimpse of what you spend your present rationalizing and wondering about, but by the time you do catch up,
I might have moved on, with the unknown artist, To another time, another reality.
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