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Suneet Chopra
The debate is on whether art and craft are distinct. They obviously have been recognised as such for at least over two hundred years, going back to a Renaissance distinction that is even older. The prices paid for works of art and craftsmanship differ considerably too, leaving one in no doubt as to their difference. But why the debate now?
It stems from the development of both exploitation and mass production by artists. Perhaps the best place to see this is to go to any major state-sponsored studios any where in the country to see a number of leading painters and sculptors employ stone-cutters and painter assistants to do their job work. This is then sold as theirs after they have touched it and signed their names. When people protest against this double-dealing they are told art and craft are no different from each other.
I am not criticising the collective production of a work of art, or a collaborative effort. That is perfectly valid. What I do object to is where an artist uses the skilled labour ofcraftsmen to produce substandard and repetitive works which merely have a hint of what the work would be like had he actually done it. So the price the buyer pays is for the work of an artist, but he is getting only job-work in return. Some artists feel if the buyers are fools enough to buy second-rate work at first rate prices, let them pay for it.
Perhaps that is best; but the fact is it fouls the market. And once bitten twice shy works in the art market as it does nowhere else. So such unethical practices must be avoided at all cost if the fledgling art market in India is to be preserved. Artists producing collaborative works must name their collaborators, and those using the help of craftsmen must price their works lower than their original work accordingly.
There are artists who do that. Take the work of the designer Naresh Kaul and artist Krishan Kaul exhibiting at the I'm Gallery in Lajpat Nagar. A table-like sculpture preserving the tactile quality of wood is priced at Rs 14,000 only. This showsan honesty that is creditable. More artists and sculptors should do that. This is more important today as a large number of artists are occupied with design, some of them for as long as India has been independent, like Dashrath Patel. And clearly, their designer products sell at much less than the original works of art they produce.
The I'm Gallery was the first artist-designer outlet in Delhi, which has exhibited, among others, the work of Baroda-trained sculptors, Atul Sinha and Manish Kansara, who are now exhibiting at the newly opened Vis a Vis gallery at Khirki Village, which also specialises in a blend of art and design. Designer products are mass-produced and as such they command lower prices than original works of art. But they have become an extremely important element in what we call affordable art.
The product designer is a creation of the modern world. Each design has an originality that the craftsperson does not have; but the product is multiplied many times over. This allows for goods of afar higher aesthetic quality to reach the buyer.
What one hopes is that one day craftsman too would develop the originality of a designer or an artist. Simply breaking the well between the fine arts and crafts by definition will not do. Already some craftsmen, like Mawasi Ram the potter, Santokha Dudhat the scroll-painter, and Shyam Lal the sculptor, were all either craftspersons or assistants before they became artists in their own right.
Now, if being an artist or a craftsperson was the same thing, the change in the quality of work of all of them would not have been recognised as such. But it was. So whether we like it or not, the difference between art and craft is there. And it must be understood by the buyer as well.
The buyer must know that the highest prices are demanded for original works of quality that are unique, relevant to the history of the genre or style of art a work belongs to, and sensitively executed. Then the next highest prices are paid for designer products which are really massproduced works of art. Works of art produced by assistants under the supervision of an artist fall into this category.
Finally, the lowest prices are paid for works of repetitive craftsmanship that have not altered their shape for years. Least of all for craft products that serve as airport art and curiosities. This is a rule of thumb that will help the art buyer distinguish among the different things in the market that sell as art but may not be that. That way he or she will at least not be out of pocket.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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