" The Fading Arts "
Traditional art forms that originally make up the cultural genome of India is slowly turning to dust in the eyes of millennial. What with mainstream media jam-packing radio and tv stations with stone faced youngsters moving to the same old beats recycled every year, the very concept of peacefully swaying along to a classical recital or watching a kathak dancer’s graceful yet swift and precise movements and sitting back in awe and wonder is fading by the day.
I, being a classical flute player myself, have noticed this shift in today’s consciousness towards popular genres and how this is leading to a gaping hole in minds regarding the very existence of certain classical arts. This is even preventing practicing artists from performing their craft in public knowing how underappreciated their skills are today.
Depicted here are two of my friends-Aryasree performing the South Indian dance form “Bharathnatyam” ( top ), and Vignesh, who practices the “Mridangam” ( below ).
My style of illustrating these arts were inspired by Mural Paintings adopted in adorning temple and palace walls in the early days of Indian history. This is yet another form of art disappearing from the current art scene in India. The five basic colors used in traditional mural paintings have been used in these illustrations. These depictions have been created using no reference images, rather based solely on my vision of them performing their favored skill.
