It is important to have a direction and focus, more so if your endeavors are creative in nature. Why so? You might ask, isn’t it necessary for all the faculties of our life? Yes, it is but art is interpreted in multiple ways. So it is necessary for an artist to understand the essence of creativity from varied perspectives. And I am happy for the fact that this essential understanding was inculcated in during my college days at the J.J.School of Arts in Mumbai.
The campus of the college itself espouses creativity. A stroll in the campus is good enough to set your creative juices rolling. As a student, we were encouraged to design art pieces inspired by nature. And this, in turn, brought me face to face with different mediums including cardboard, which later on would define me as an artist.
Fibre, wood, and clay everything was at play, as a student, I was allowed to flirt with different materials. At this point, I must also mention the name of a Swiss Artist Heidi who expanded my idea of perceiving art. She used to say “Express Yourself, Express who you are?” And it is the power of this expression which years later would also encourage me to design “Moss of Misogyny”
Moss of Misogyny was my reaction to the collective oppression of women in the circles of power. Something that was openly discussed during the #metoo campaign. A creative impulse which enabled me to take a stand in a language I best understand.
Years later when I revisited the J.J. School of Arts campus, all the creative analogies I had learnt were still existent. The campus continues to reflect an aura of creativity which it instills in its students. It brought to mind my college days when I was surrounded with contemporary art designed using everyday objects like safety pins and newspaper. A walk in the fine arts department offered me a flashback to some lively conversations I had with a senior classmate.
The conversation had unraveled with respect to an art piece he had designed. Given his affinity for the art piece, he had to decide whether to vend it or let it adorn the walls of the fine arts lab. As I stepped into the lab, there it was, left untouched to inspire subsequent generations of J.J. Collegians. I felt poignant and happy at the same time, more so because today Hemant Sonawane is a well-known sculptor.
When I look back and introspect myself today, I thank J.J for my evolution as a cardboard artist. Had it not been for my college education, I would have probably lost my way. And this, in turn, has also changed me as a person, I am open to more conversations, unlike the shy and introvert individual I used to be. An all-round education indeed!