Fine Art

What Is Fine Art?

Technically, fine art defines an art form that was developed primarily for the aesthetics rather than for practical application. Today, the arena of fine art has spread its tentacles wide across the globe, engulfing all those who are passionate about expressing themselves and the world in the form of some art. Historically, the five greater fine arts included sculpture, painting, music, poetry and architecture, of course with the minor arts including dance and drama. While today, fine arts include all the visual and performance arts, including calligraphy, photography, print making, conceptual art, collage, etc.

Unfortunately, fine art as a concept has been greatly misunderstood. Most of us think that fine arts refers to the quality of the art, while in reality, it refers to the discipline’s purity. This is particularly why performing arts like the theatre and ballet are also referred to fine arts. Having said that, the concept of what purity of a discipline is comes to be questioned. Aristotle had once quoted that ‘imitation is one of the finest thing in human nature’ which complements our human ability to stay in harmony with regard to nature and rhythm itself.

Thus, fine art is anything whose purity is as close as possible, to being in synchrony with imitation of the human nature. However, this definition can be referred to the field of performing arts only.

What Does Fine Art Enclose?

Fine art comes to include all the two dimensional works such as illustrations, paintings and drawings, comics, fiber art, print making, photography, calligraphy, mosaics and imaging, as well as the three-dimensional art forms such as conceptual art, sculpting, dance, film and theatre, architecture, games and other art forms. Apart from these, the electronic media, western art music, avant-garde music, creative writing and textiles (as in quilt art) are also included in fine arts.

Of course, distinct and unique pieces of art stand out from different artists and their eras, but what makes their creation a ‘fine art’ is its ability to arouse emotions in the viewer. And these emotions can be anything from sadness and misery to joy and extreme ecstasy. On the contrary, if any piece of art cannot evoke any emotion within the viewer, neither positive nor negative, that piece of art cannot be rightly considered a fine art. Moreover, a genuinely fine art evokes an emotion that is absolutely subjective. The greatest of the artistic compositions do trigger almost same responses from the viewer, yet each individual bears a unique subjective interpretation to the piece.

Role of Fine Art in Lives Today

Fine art is one of the best and exceptional forms of expressing oneself and their interpretation of or their reaction to the world around them. However, a creative process such as fine art is equally therapeutic and life affirming. Art therapy and artistic expression through fine arts provides a creative outlet for the youth and is also a viable means of communication. Traumatic events buried within an individual can still be heard through their expression in fine arts and once that is done, a therapist begins working on it. And this is undoubtedly, the most beautiful role of fine art in lives today!

Indian Contemporary Art

Indian Contemporary Art

The tremendously vast scope of Indian art intertwines with its cultural history, philosophies and religions, placing art production and its patronage in cultural and social contexts. There is a strong sense of design which is characteristic to Indian Art and this can be observed in its traditional as well as modern forms.

The Indian contemporary art kicked off in the early 20th century, as a sort of a renaissance under the leadership of the famed Tagore family. Indian artists had begun increasing the forms they used their work, with painting and sculpting holding up its position. However, it found radical new directions in the works of leading artists such as Subodh Gupta, Narayanan Ramachandran, Bharti Kher, Devajyoti Ray and the like. Amongst these popular contemporary Indian artists, some of them were deeply inclined towards exploiting the great Indian heritage and hence focused on the great Indian epics, the murals of Ajanta-Ellora, miniature paintings, etc.

Indian Contemporary Art

Every Indian gallery today, showcases both traditional as well as Indian contemporary art pieces, some of which are audacious and vigorous, yet graceful and sophisticated paintings. They are mainly the manifestations of the myriad art forms. The contemporary Indian art fuses a unique entity reflecting the intuitive and emotions of Indian culture, employed with the soft touch of Indian elegance. The popular contemporary Indian artists include famed names such as Deepak Shinde, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Satish Gujral, Jatin Das, S.H. Raza, Laxman Shreshtha, etc.

Before Indian Independence, the pioneer of contemporary art was Abanindranath Tagore, who incorporated the Chinese and Japanese styles into his work. He was shortly followed by many other Indian painters such as Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Shergill, Samarendranath Gupta, Jamini Roy, etc, hence developing the Indian Contemporary Style.

Indian contemporary art, today gathers inspiration from all over the world. With several Indian artists migrating to the Western countries, art for them has become a form of expression merging their experiences of their Indian past with their current western culture. Despite this, Indian contemporary art still retains its exceptional ‘Indianness’.

Indian Contemporary Art Market

The current market of contemporary Indian art is booming day by day. There seems to be a phrase floating around the artistic community of the nation. The following facts stand as proofs to the booming contemporary art market in India.

Reports have suggested that art business is presently worth about US $40 billion and ever since the year 2003, the Indian art market has grown at an average rate of 20-30% every year. Yet news that was the highlight of the contemporary Indian art market was the 1980 artwork by an Indian artist that sold at $2500, but reaches a current figure of about $1 million.

Additionally, a recent report of the Fortune magazine revealed that the Indian art market has risen over 485% in the last decade and today, the fourth largest and the most positive art market in the world.

Thus, the Indian contemporary art seems to promise a brighter future for every Indian artist without doubt.