ART, PUBLIC ART & ' i '

Hello again,
Art, assuming every one is familiar with; but what is this Public Art ?
Well I may not encounter this Query often, particularly since one is still in
New York, USA, but in India, I make it a point to explain !
So I might do it here as well, since what ever I try to say, now & in future will be ‘home grown’- self taught, will have the benefit of our readers correcting me,
Isn’t that a ‘Double Win’ situation, again this is my own terminology, just sprouted ! Double, it may induce that person to correct…. comment and of course our learning from hmmmm him /her; shall be happier with both. Here I may have to clarify, that our him/ his in future, includes her, where applicable !

Have you noticed how actresses…sorry female actors insist on being addressed
or referred to as ‘actors’ and I am pretty sure, in our times & in India it has been spearheaded by one & only*, Shabana Azmi ! Now why do I write so,with such finality...well, there has been her contemporary…slightly junior, Smita Patil, but, she died after almost 14 years of work, and it has been close to 21 years , since her death !

Am I digressing? Well, Art it is, both are ‘Artistes’ of the highest caliber, and worked in a medium, call it …Cinema, Films, Motion Pictures or in our colloquial, “Picture…Tasveer” can’t I call it Public Art ? Well we can leave that for a much informed debate, here in fact, I wished to introduce, my interpretation, thru what the undersigned has been able to do ‘humbly’… again I may add that one was lucky, being at ‘The right place at the right time’ Period !

Public Art, for me is that visual art which one sees, anywhere 'in or outside' a built form, building, and one has not gone to see it specially, as you would go to see art, in an art exhibition, where on display,are paintings, sculpture, murals or the latest “Installation”! Well, here I would invite ‘People’s participation’ for the definition of Installation.

I have done a vast variety of Art, murals, installations, and used to refer to my work as Art-n Architecture till in one of earliest visits to USA, sitting in a very
prestigious library in Florida, chanced upon ‘Public Art’ & it captured my imagination, so I am hooked to it ! It was also the time, while being in USA, I had to monitor the Public Art** one had already conceived, designed & delivered on paper, but its implementation was pending, so it was heartening to read on the email… “It is looking fantastic ” Imagine my Ecstasy !

In my present trip, a fairly long stay in New York, like a non tourist, had the chance to visit a ‘Product Fair’at the prestigious Crest Hollows Country Club, organized by the American Institute of Architects, ( Long Island Chapter).
Here, not only I saw some amazing products, attended a class, having a very lucid presentation by Ms Janet,*** who I learnt later was a qualified Architect like me, but in addition had a Doctorate as well. For answering a question correctly,a NanaWall pen drive, was the starting point of a Winning Spree !

What more did I win ? Moore, Benjamin Moore paints, purple & white, after I made my ‘inspired painting' in just about 6 minutes on a sample color board, 2’ x 2’, whose purple colored base was being made by visitors bit by bit ! So the painting, the paints…and lots of friends **** I won on a single afternoon !! The painting i plan to gift, the local library at East Meadow, NY !

Back here, in New York, the creative urge combined with small gifts made, me enter into painting, Public Art, since what I have done is in the inner corner of our backyard fencing & also on the rustic double door of the Tool Room Hut. The theme of the painting…how it started, how it assimilated the environment around, I shall deal in a separate chapter...another blog !

So here is wishing I am able to share..upload some visuals !




Some notes
* Smita Patil, actor par excellence,introduced by the renowned Shyam Benegal.

** On a Multi Storeyed Aptt House, Connaught Circus, City Centre New Delhi.

***Ms Janet Mellema, Director for sustainable Design for NanaWall

**** Friends...A I A Long Island Chapter Chairman...Ar Joseph Chearmonte..
Practising Architect John Notaro....Architect & Designer Ms Belle Smith &
her colleague at B Moore, Ms Diana Ratazzi...the photogenic
Mr JOHN RIGROD, Publisher & Editor, HAMMER Magazine, Northport, NY.

And finally, only after writing the above draft, had a sudden impulse, to look
for the definitions of Public Art etc, and my ,my ,they are pretty, BIG ! Still
my hunch is you will feel connected with me & support my little 'i'....