By Sukant Khurana:
Art in India largely has been unfortunately limited to collectors’ living rooms and art galleries. With very less public art and a clear detachment of art from everyday urban life, some Delhi artists came together under the banner of “CauseArt” and decided to take things in their own hands to set art free. Led by Nandana Acharjee, a doctor by profession and artist by choice, a group of 21 artists from Delhi broke down the walls of art galleries by taking art directly to the people. On 6th of July, 4 pm onwards: Aakshat Shinha, Aarti Uppal Singla, Abhineet Sharma, Ayushi Vashishtha, Ankur Chaudhary, Ben Angkang, Hemant Bhutani, Pinaki Dev, Inku Kumar, Kavita Nambissan, Prashant Sharma, Charbak Dipta, Priyamvada Shingh, Nipun Prabhakar, Pranav Vashishth, Aadit Basu, Swati Goyal, Shiv Kumar, Romel Salwi, Shikhant Sablania and Nandana Acharjee held a work of their art in their hands and stood in A, B and F block of inner circle of Connaught Place. This event was possible because of artists funding their art, travel and putting in their time for the purpose of art, without any financial benefits. This art exhibition being taken to people in form of an artmob, took Delhiwallas by surprise. For many it was their first encounter with art. The response was overwhelming. These pioneering artists collaborated with Artist at Work Production for technical assistance for the event.
By the response to the event, it seems that many new art enthusiasts were born due to that experience. Not just Delhi but also every corner of India needs more such events to make art a part of everyday life. Unless we want art to have unnatural boundaries or high art and local art, more boundaries need to be broken. These young Delhi artists have shown one way to break the barrier that art galleries can impose on access to art. Let us hope for many more such events and more out of the box ideas to make Indians one of the most art conscious people.
