Art plays an important role in modern human societies. Mona Lisa's face may be amongst the most recognised faces in the world. The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo Daro ( pic above) is in one small piece brings a vivid representation of that civilisation for us. The Nataraja is the iconic distillation of the glory of Southern India.
The cave paintings in France and Spain (image below) show us how evolved humans were in art even in the ice age. Initially, the people refused to accept that it could be from that era. But as it was proved that the paintings of horses, bison and mammoths were done by the primitive people it became clear that even in basic, pre-historic conditions art came naturally to humans and it may have allowed them to connect to a superior state of being as it does now.
Through art, we can fuse reality and imagination in a way that can outlast us. It connects us to a cosmic sense of existence that makes our mundane lives more acceptable.
Modern education in India with its emphasis on STEM, science-based disciplines and almost complete discarding of art from the curricula, and including literature too; produces graduates bereft of a sense of grandeur and universal spirit. It does not help that the broader society at best engages with commercial movies as the highest form of art. There are hardly any patrons or even artists or literary figures that can infuse the spirit of art in society. All this adds to a mechanistic, transactional life. Time we addressed this.
No comments:
Post a Comment