Art We There Yet?

“Even if you do not come up with a picture to remove world poverty, you can make someone smile while they are having a piss – Banksy”

It was a usual sweltering Kochi afternoon and I had just about gotten done with the exhibits at the Biennale. Roaming around the streets, looking for a place to eat, I magically led myself to a lane completely covered with street art. Yep, right there in the middle of the fishing nets and beef curry, were multiple artworks by Guess Who (BBC dubbed them as the Indian Banksy, though they aren’t the first ones to be monickered that) and the Hamburg based street artist Tona, in their own (not so) subtle way trying to prove a point about the status of street or rather public art in India.

And Kochi is not the only city. From Mumbai to Bundi (honours on guessing which state it is in!), Bangalore to Assam, Pune to Delhi, these street artists over the last few years have slowly but surely begun to make a mark on the artsy Indian subconscious.

At a time where street art and India don’t sound like they fly together, St+Art India Foundation, is making inroads in changing the perception. First of their kind street art festivals were held in Delhi and Mumbai which saw artists from all over the globe fly down to make the cities more interesting looking. From Ranjit Dahiya painting the yesteryears’ movie stars, to Daku’s typography, trance inducing geometrical art by Seikon to tongue-in-cheek anti-establisharian Tyler, there are several unexpected walls and crannies waiting to be discovered.

While a lot of street art is usually expected to be about political activism, proving a point against societal conventions, most of the street art you’ll see around is an effort to relegate the status from street art to public art. To make art for a cross section of the diaspora, art that one doesn’t have to pay for, or be able to enjoy only with cheese and crackers. The effort primarily is to introduce the public to a new medium of expression and the response till now has been nothing short of what was expected ; massive curiosity as pedestrians slow down a little every time they cross one of these artworks.

We may not followed Banksy all the way to Gaza, but sure have managed to garner a few following eyeballs.

I wrote this piece for the Bizarre Culture here.

Check out the youtube video on the "Indian Banksy" here

We'll Always Have New York!

“One hand in the air for the big city

Street lights, big dreams, all looking pretty

No place in the world that could compare

And we’ll always have New York”

I started working last summer, and our mighty firm sends all new recruits to New York for 4 weeks for training (and 6 weeks if you fail a basic test, which guess what I did (on purpose, of course!))! How cool is that!

All that I had seen in the Hollywood movies and the American TV shows for almost 2 decades was finally going to unfold and unravel in front of my senses for 6 whole weeks! And to top it all, BenJ flew down from France to spend a little over two weeks, and who would deny the increment to fun and enjoyment when travelling and discovering with the one you love.

And now that I look back at last year’s glorious summer, here’s a rundown of the things we miss, things we loved and things we want to do over and over again:

1.       Walk the High Line: The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets of Manhattan’s West side. It is by far one of the most underrated and most charming ways to get a feel of the city. We walked the High Line, danced to African pop music there, sat next to a guy who wrote 5-minute stories on an ancient typewriter, painted for charity, walked some more and watched the sun set behind the crazy skylines.

The Highline gives view to some amazing graffiti

And like us, you may get to paint for charity!

Or just watch stories being spun out of thin air (via a typewriter!)

2.       Spend a Sunday (or two) at the Central Park: No matter how much is said about this urban park covering almost a third of Manhattan, it will never be enough. It is one of the most entertaining ways of spending a Sunday (or any other day as long as it’s sunny and you don’t have to work!) without burning a hole in your pocket. Walk across the length of the park, be a spectator to the several baseball matches, groove at one of the many Summer Concerts (we were lucky to be right in the middle of a thumping Fatoumata Diawara performance) and you never know, but you may also get to witness a wedding right there in the middle of the park!

A lazy Sunday afternoon at Central Park watching one of the umpteen baseball games                          

3.       Subways: God bless the MTA for the brilliant subway line connection down and across the borough! Almost like the Delhi metro (well the Delhi metro is a little more sophisticated), the subway system offers brilliant opportunities for people watching, people watching and more people watching! With music performances inside the stations or sketch artists pock marking the system, a ride from one place to another can never be boring.

4.       Speakeasies: When in New York, dump the fancy, glitzy bars with over priced drinks and even more over dressed crowd and find yourself a speakeasy for the night. We got talking to the locals about their favourites and picked out two: The Bathtub Gin and The Blind Barber. The Bathtub Gin was the first one we hit and boy it did live up to the definition of a speakeasy! We kept standing in front of a coffee shop for 5 whole minutes, scratching our heads and figuring out where the bar was, till a gentleman finally showed us inside the coffee shop where a hidden door leads you to the dimly lit, sophisticated, gin-based-cocktails serving, burlesque performance showcasing bar. With amazing drinks, polite service, brilliant performances and yes the hidden entrance, The Bathtub Gin was not a disappointment. The Blind Barber was our next stop. Hidden discretely behind the doors of a nondescript barber shop, the ambience, the drinks (not as good at Bathtub gin though) and the music was well worth the trip to the East Village.

5.       Hester Street Fair and other markets: The Hester Street fair is a perfect way to spend a lazy, balmy weekend afternoon. With artisanal street food, vintage clothing, hand-made jewellery, colourful stationery and not overly crowded, it’s a fairly good alternative considering the hustle bustle of most markets and fairs. BenJ gifted me two pairs of earrings and a necklace from one of the vendors here and they are by far one of the most quaint looking pieces of jewellery I own ( <3)

6.       Discover D.U.M.B.O: DUMBO, an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, is a neighbourhood in south Brooklyn with an interesting combination of old warehouses, quirky shops and restaurants and the magnificent view of Manhattan. We checked out the multiple old warehouses converted into creative centres, clicked (LOTS of) pictures with the Manhattan and the Brooklyn bridges in the backdrop, bought chocolates from the Jacques Torres chocolate shop (the lady working there told us about the speakeasies), and just sat at Fulton’s Landing watching the ferries pass by.

One of those mesmerizing photo-ops

The view from the other side

                                     

Apart from the above favourites, we walked (and we walked and walked and walked) almost across all streets and avenues and was the best way to discover New York. Be it amazing graffiti in different nooks and crannies, rice and chicken on 53^rd & 6^th (The Halal Guys and yes this cart is a NY Landmark and the chicken makes the queue stretching for a block and a half every bit worth it!!), all the museums (working in a firm associated with any of these museums can get you free entry), the tiny, yet expensive cafes in Meat Packing, the bustle when you get off at the Union Square station, getting lost inside the Grand Central Station! New York gave us the best two weeks last summer (and the best Facebook profile picture options!!)

Walking led us to discover some of our favourite haunts

                                  

And we made some of our favourite memories, in New York