Art work is everywhere you look in India. This is not hyperbole. It
is literally all around you. Even the simplest sari that the woman
picking wheat on the fields is wearing - it is colorful with prints and a
border, and is likely handmade. The big semi-trucks carrying
everything from fruits and vegetables to concrete and bricks are
hand-painted in all sorts of colors with designs of flowers or different
Hindu gods. Same goes for the pick-up trucks and rickshaws. Store
fronts are also painted in bright colors with creative fonts, and
animated advertising.
Some of it looks totally ridiculous or gaudy to the Western eye, which tends
to favor simplicity over intricacy. But when you look at it all
closely, you recognize the amount of detail involved and steady hand required, and
realize that it's made with true creativity and artistic skill.
Traveling India you also see amazing sights like the Taj Mahal, where
thousands of pieces of marble have been intricately carved into floral
designs and Arabic text with hundreds of thousands of pieces of colorful gems inlaid. Or
you see a temple with carvings of Buddha the size of
a Dollar coin, and carved archways that not only perfectly frame the
monument inside, but have such detail that it leaves your jaw hanging - wondering how many hours of skill it would take.
Then of course, no
matter where you are in India, you hear music in the air. At temples you
will hear religious hymns from worshippers accompanied by soft drums. In the market you will hear loud, thumping Bollywood songs coming from store stereos. Sometimes car horns and back-up warning sounds are even programmed to play these upbeat tunes. India also has cinema (Bollywood itself, of course!), all types of dance,
classical music, instruments like the sitar and tabla, photography,
paintings, bronze sculptures, and stone and wood carvings - all of which
have such a rich history here.
Still,
what I think amazes me most about it all is not necessarily the art
itself, but the people behind the art and around the art. India embraces art like nowhere else I've seen.
Nilit
and I went to visit a gallery in Jaipur, where we were able to watch
demonstrations of artists commissioned there by the Indian government to
showcase their trade. We met a man there who worked on inlaid wood. He
demonstrated how he carved an intricate design in a piece of wood using a
chisel and hammer. The design was sweeping, and he hammered and turned
his instruments with ease. The depth of the cut in the wood was only a
few millimeters. He then took a sheet of copper and cut a thin strip
from it - he cut it fast, and straight as an arrow. He laid
the wire over the matching carved area of the wood, and hammered it in.
Just a few seconds later, the copper strip was inlaid and flush with
the wood. No adhesive. In order to make dots, he cuts a
small piece from a thin wire, thereby making a tiny cylinder. He uses
his knife to make a tiny hole in the wood where the design goes, and
hammers in the cylinder. The designs were incredibly articulate, and his hands
moved amazingly swiftly. I wish I had pictures to share, but photography
wasn't allowed.
He
spoke to us about how inlaid wood work was his family trade; secrets
passed on through generations. His father, grandfather, great
grandfather all did the same work. He showed us a wooden box that his
father had made for the government as a gift from India to British
royalty, adorned with the Prince of Wales feathers. The feathers were
detailed and precise. He also showed us a big vase attached to
a small stool, both filled with small designs of flowers, leaves, and
other sweeping intricate designs. He showed it to us and told us that
his father
had made it years ago.
"It
is a masterpiece," he said. "It took him more than 5 months of work."
He looked at it as astonishingly as we did, and handled it delicately.
We told him it was amazing. He was smiling softly and beaming with
pride. "My father made it," he said again. "Masterpiece."
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| We bought this little box from him. Though meager, we're hoping it at least in some way helps his family continue this beautiful trade. |
We
also had the pleasure of visiting the countryside in Srirangapatnam, a
small island town near Mysore in the state of Karnataka. We visited
farmers and craftsmen. A man who is a first-generation copper carver;
men who build and paint (surprisingly ornate) bullock carts; and a new
type of inlaid-wood carver.
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| This sweet man (first-generation copper carver) works out of his house. |
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| A man carving for a bullock cart - You can see one painted behind him. |
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| Inlaid wood work |
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| A
different type of "inlaid" wood work - None of this is painted. All
shades are different types of wood, cut into tiny
shapes and then glued together like a big, amazingly detailed puzzle. |
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| The pictures behind this man (the father who owns the business) are all of the puzzle-type inlaid wood work. |
What
strikes me most is the Indian passion for all of these beautiful
things. Indian people love intricate designed clothes - whether it's
small tie
dye patterns, stamp prints or embroidery. As long as you can afford it,
you purchase the most elaborate design possible whether it's clothes,
or decor for your house or your rickshaw. And even the smallest towns
are
adorned with bright colorful temples and sculptures and carvings of
various
Gods. And Indians without their Bollywood movies, dance moves, and songs
would just be
fish without water.
In
what is always regarded as a "developing" or third-world country, you
might not expect art to be all around you at all times, and see that so
many resources are allocated toward aesthetic beauty and artful
entertainment. Frugality would dictate that you do what is necessary,
and nothing more. But the truly amazing thing about India is that all
this art is part of the country's inherent culture. There's no "art scene" -
it's just there, all around you. Nobody would do without it. There is
no question about its necessity, because without India's art there is
no religion, entertainment, clothing, or decor. Without its art, there
really is no India.
What's
even better is that we learned that the Indian government recognizes
this as India's true specialty, and supports exporting of art and
handiwork. When we visited a government-supported marble carver in
Jaipur and a carpet-maker in Amritsar, they told us we could purchase
anything and have it shipped back home for free - subsidized by India. We can't
afford anything big enough to ship right now - but we were really happy
to learn that these skilled people of India, who work so hard, were getting true support from the government.
I'll just leave you here with some more pictures, because my words utterly fail in comparison. I recommend clicking on one and seeing the rest as a slideshow for bigger images. Enjoy!
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| Touch up paint. Humayun's Tomb, Delhi |
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| Fabric block-printing in Jaipur. The stamps are hand-carved and then pressed into the cloth with colored ink for designs. |
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| Bodhgaya, Bihar. The place where Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment thousands of years ago. |
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| Small Hindu dieties in the operating room at the Patna hospital |
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| Around Qutub Minar, Delhi |
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| Saris laying out to dry near the holy Kaveri River |
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| The Golden Temple - Amrtisar, Punjab |
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| A woman dancing in Rajasthan |
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| Sheesh Mahal, Amber Fort, Jaipur |
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| You've
seen pictures, you've heard it's a world wonder - but if you haven't
seen it in person, you just haven't seen it. Truly breath-taking. |
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| A
man carving marble - The top is temporarily stained with henna so the
carved part is easier to see. Real Indian marble is non-pourous, so the
henna washes right off. It is then inlaid with stones. |
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| A beautiful marble table with inlaid stones. |
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| Agra Fort, Agra, Uttar Pradesh |
