Delving into Unconventional Artistic Colours

Walking on the streets of Lodhi Colony, did you encounter some awe-striking murals and graffiti on the walls of the houses? This colony is India’s first public open-air art district in the country. What if India becomes the next mecca for street art just like New York?

The moment we think about an exhibition, a fancy closed dome with decorated art, sculptures, photographs strikes our mind accessible only to the elite. But is it really only for the elected ones or for everyone? Bringing art on the streets and accessible to everyone irrespective of their caste, culture, religion; is the main objective of St+Art Foundation, an organisation formed on the principle of ‘Art for All’ and works on art projects in public spaces. The aim of the foundation is to make art accessible to a wider audience by taking it out of the conventional gallery space and embedding it within the cities we live in - making art truly democratic and for everyone.

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Imagine an event under the open skies in a vast arena accessible to anyone where people of all ages from all classes are visiting and bustling over this magnanimous art district. Where at one hand you see artists drawing brilliant mind-boggling murals and graffiti on the walls along with Bboys and Hip-Hop dancers grooving on some sassy numbers, on the other hand, there is street food with all sorts of exotic and mouth-watering dishes and other street crafts happening all over. Aren’t we stepping into a one world culture?

Mahim (E) Art District, the second open-air art district recently took place in Mumbai. The Co-Founder Hanif Kureshi encapsulates these exhibitions and districts as experiential ones which create a curiosity among common people from all ages and classes of society to know about art and further imbibe art in their daily lives. He says that this initiative will surely trigger a change not only in the minds of youth but also fuel the minds of small children and further influence them.

E.M. Forster, the renowned novelist once said that art has an intrinsic value and should be taken as “Art for Art Sake”. But through the pages of time its meaning has taken over by various debates and moral definitions. However, Street Art is always seen as an act of revolution or rebellion as the history has penned it down. And further bringing down to the streets is actually an iconoclastic gesture. Isn’t this the paradigm shift we all have been waiting for?

From the January 2018 issue of FHM India.