Sunday, July 24, 2011

End of Portrait.

 'Reflection', By Lucien freud ,1985   56x51 cm ; oil on canvas

Camera and the photographic process came into vogue early in the nineteenth century and with it came the belief that the art of portrait will die soon. It of course did not happen. since artists used portrait as a way of  creative expression. Not as a way to represent likeness.

Lucien freud (Yes,  he is related to Sigmund !) a foremost exponent of the portrait said about a portrait artist  ,"And, since the model he faithfully copies is not going to be hung up next to the picture, since the picture is going to be there on its own, it is of no interest whether it is an accurate copy of the model."  and also
 "I paint people, not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be." 

 Even a cursory examination of his body of work will prove how successful he was in doing exactly that. His success in capturing the very essence of his models, depicting the core of their personality on a canvas is without compare. He translated a model; his feelings and their circumstances  into paint. As he said,"The aura given out by a person or object is as much a part of them as their flesh."

As is the wont of most artists ,his personal life was quite eventful . It is his figurative work that he persisted with despite opposition of critics and trends ;  that makes him a leading artist of our time and among of the greats ever. His work  became hugely popular among public during his own life time and that is literally a silver lining . In May 2008, his 1995 picture Benefits Supervisor Sleeping was sold at Christie's in New York for $33.6 million, a record for a work by a living artist.

Well the artist last week passed on  to the great beyond . In the summer of 2002 during a retrospective his work considered to be among ten most popular shows ever; he jokingly told a friend that he would also like to go and see if all the things he has read about his work are actually true!

Actually they are and it was a life well spent.
 

Monday, July 18, 2011

Not an Intelligence failure!

I have no pretensions of being a security expert, yet the last time Mumbai was assaulted  I could clearly see the writing on the wall.And this blog is a witness to the fact that I predicted more attacks.  http://byteandbark.blogspot.com/2009/11/fighting-with-candles.html

Well I am no Nostradamus. I based my predictions entirely on how we handled that episode and what we did afterwards. It did not need any special intelligence on my part  to figure out that if anyone is fooling anyone it is us fooling ourselves. We took out candle light processions and Shahrukh Khan pontificated  from India gate .Regurgitated some corny dialogues from a movie , taught us  difference between mullah's islam and allah's islam.... and everyone went home afterwards feeling happy. This was the total sum of our response. Shame on us ! Did we expect terrorists and their masters to be afraid of our lit candles; or shake in their boots with fear as SRK mouthed his meaningless sentence? I am sure they were shaking but with mirth , laughter and joy at their success. 9 of them and 166 of ours with 1 left costing us millions to keep him alive.

Terrorism is a low investment high profits business. You  stop them by taking them out of business, period !Not by taking out your candles. Are you serious! And as 13th July has proved you have not stopped them. Not even a little bit . Unless you make them pay a heavy price for their dare why on earth would they stop this profitable business? Why? This is apparent to even a non professional average Joe  such as myself . It is amazing that our Home minister is not so clear, although I have to agree with him on one thing. It is not an intelligence failure! Honestly it is not; because we have not even begin to use our intelligence in the first place. It is a complete absence of brains! The alternative is worse.  It is either that or our government does not care as long as they have their vote banks .Choose for yourself but please for God's sake do not say " we will not tolerate terrorism any more"! It is a lie ,because you do. And show some respect to all those who have perished in the recent carnage. Do not take part in meaningless candle light vigils and do not talk about the "spirit of Mumbai". It is an affront to the memory of all those who needlessly lost their lives .It  just means  that you do not care and would like to get on with your lives.

If you want to show support please take responsibility for our collective response and the response of our government. They have failed us because we have let them. Make sure this time round their response is adequate ; immediate; and measurable. Hold them and ourselves accountable or be prepared for more .