Deep Dialogues! Samvaad Flashback #ArtWorld2021 (Part 2)

Bringing to you our year-end series where we rewind to some of our most-read and most-viewed stories!

We are interested in delving deeper into the life and philosophy of eminent professionals that shapes their vision and drives them to take on one successful project after the other. In free-wheeling conversations with personalities over the course of the year, we uncovered their mantra of success and their take on art, architecture, interior design and the myriad facets of the same that bring varied professions to a fine intersection of aesthetics. Abir Pothi brings to you a rewind of all the fascinating deep dialogues we have had this year!

Aniket Bhagwat

Professor Aniket Bhagwat is a third-generation landscape architect practicing in Ahmedabad with M/s Prabhaker B Bhagwat, a firm started by his father eight decades ago. An outspoken and stimulating writer, he also co-edits and writes for SPADE, India’s only peer-driven design magazine. He strives to bridge the gap between the profession and academics through discussion and criticism. “Both in design and art, whether visual or performing, it is time for vocal supporters of disciplines to come out in the open and state their importance. In the last year, we have all been helped and nourished by art around us! We have all enjoyed the nuances of good design and for the first time, people have started appreciating these subtleties. They have understood what it means to be surrounded by good art. This is a good chance for artists to stand up boldly and get noticed, almost like a clarion call to them that work is now ripe and ready. It may be about loss of money in the short run, but art and design have received a boost now that the earlier normal was not able to provide to them,” he said in this candid discussion.

Canna Patel

An architect and interior designer with over 30 years of magnificent professional experience , Canna Patel has studied at the prestigious CEPT University of Ahmedabad and at UC Berkeley. Canna eventually founded the Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID), Ahmedabad chapter. Today, she is an interior sub-consultant on the ruling party’s ambitious Central Vista Redevelopment Project. In a frank advice to upcoming artists Canna said, ““Just art is not enough. You need to understand other angles of the profession. Besides persistent work, you have to be able to articulate it, and put in some sort of description well. You need to learn how to set up for a show, how and who to invite, how you plan the show, its sales, etc. There is a lot to learn. Besides, there is a lot of marketing needed, and nothing wrong with it! This could mean interviews, getting your name into newspapers, participating in exhibitions, putting on a solo show, and inviting the right crowd… as an artist, all these activities need to either be learnt or have to be arranged for as you go along your journey. This is what I would tell anyone in the creative field, who is hoping to rise up.” Read the full interview here.

Rekha Rodwittya

Rekha Rodwittiya, the contemporary Indian artist known for the fascinating magical realism in her art, conversed about all things art in this interview. A maven of metaphor, she also co-runs The Collective Studio, Baroda. “I believe making a work of art is a process where you sit to discourse with yourself in the reality you find yourself in — in the age your find yourself in, in the politics you find yourself in; and this then becomes the notations from which you attempt to create a sense of meaning from as an artist, which you then put out to share with others. Meaning is, again, not something I wish to define as being merely something that describes. I happen to be a figurative artist and I use that framework of language. But there may be others who use differing language devices — and I presume that they, too, have methodologies that allow them to frame their creative articulation and offer it as a platform of discourse that goes beyond mere description alone,” she said. Catch the entire interview here.

Check out other articles from the year-end series as well. We would also love to read your comments!