Blindshot

 A picture should exercise an experience of some sort, a stimulant or a trigger to begin with. How many times do we notice such triggers? People do look out only for provocative, shocking, surprising, out of the box stimulants to be honest. What about the art which doest shout loud enough but possess a captivating and humbling quality? Are temples carved out of stone, a mere craft?  What about the power of imagination and the presence  in those sculptures? Are they just objects, objects of worship alone? 

Art is what we want to believe? How many pictures will have the power to behold our eyes and mind?  Not many. The truth about a picture, is born out of itself and artists are the instruments. We artists can proudly say we have done a masterpiece but is that the reality? If so whatever you touch should’ve been gold? The same recipe tried and tested over and over but still a masterpiece remains so unique. Many people say it was the lead to a masterpiece- what about the art works that are to follow the masterpiece?  

I have been forcing myself towards incorporating newness in my work. I haven’t been able to successfully achieve the change that I am after. A sense of disbelief is hovering around every time I disappoint myself with repetition. What is this repetition all about? 

I have realised that there are images of the mind, that needs a proper channel to be expelled out irrespective of artistic skills. People still are not able to put it out in a lifetime. We do see artists working on something over a lifetime and still can’t digest the urge to pluck it out of themselves, an obsession. Is this, just an attached memory over a period of time? All skills do become a part of muscle memory and not an intellectual exercise? like driving, cycling, walking and so on… if so what makes an intellectual exercise different? To keep us conscious every time we perform? Can we even perform at all being conscious about what we are doing? Can we engineer everything we do? Is it possible that a human life filled with complexities and actions be documented as and when performed leaving nothing behind?  

We do tend to push things towards the known end of our experience arena and conclude every time with bare minimum success. When we are free from our preconceptions, our mind allows the momentary everyday experiences to take over our judgement and enhance the quality of life.  But how do we control this, is it even necessary to control? An introspection, a self-infused exile from all the comforts of having been done this and that may lead again back to the same question, whether it is necessary to make sense of everything? 

I tried working without this comfort zone through various drawings, more often than not it ended somewhere close to where I left the last time. Coming out of your socket is not easy by any means. Now how to open up to the unfamiliar? How to come up with ideas that do not exist around you? 

Unfortunately, every artist that you come across is much concerned about creating an identity, a style or what they call ‘a language’ in today’s art world. Repetition creates familiarity and familiarity is nothing but a recognisable entity- a ‘language’. That ‘language’ appears to be the code of acceptance and recognition of an artist by the established to the younger ones. The ‘unique language’ is expected to be discovered by every individual artist on their own and once successful, paradoxically they are destined and obliged to follow the time tested path, with the same set of limited audience and similar patterns to sustain as an artist! 

Moving away from the known to the unknown in search of a journey alone seems like an understatement of a fool to many. In such a situation, one who craves for this journey is left alone banished as a lost soul. People try to convince and console through as many ways one can think of and to be one among them is the right way to live!

Never bother what people are up-to but as an individual shooting in the dark to search something that is not visible enough, takes a lot of courage and belief in the very existence of the unknown. Even though as many artists across the globe spoke vivaciously about this unknown being the factor to crave for, very little interest or aspiration have been shown by majority.

Is there a method to explore this phenomena of discovering the unknown and keep exploring them constantly not feeding the ‘language’ enough? I wonder if such a thing exists! when things are left to grow on their own, they evolve shooting from all directions and a chance may occur for it to shoot in the darkness only to find the new unknown and move on to the next. There’s another way to look at it as well; when there’s a need there will be a direction. 

When one wants to live fully to his experiences- his act may not be the act of an expert. Majority of the artists with well-furnished skillsets are much disappointed with their outcome of art as compared to an amateur artist who is making art only for momentary validation. The mastery hurts and plays around the ego of an artist.  But the humbleness and lack of recognition may actually serve as a powerful tool to remain relevant in the hunt for discovering the new.