Viktor-vijay-art-contemporary Indian artist: Steiermark meets Contemporary modern Indian art in Viktor Vijay's solo Exhibition in Delhi

Viktor-vijay-art-contemporary Indian artist: Steiermark meets Contemporary modern Indian art in Viktor Vijay's solo Exhibition in Delhi

Mona Lisa does not smile anymore--A book on false European Renaissance and art of India

Colonialism had a lasting impact on the art and culture of India. The transplanted weed of European art was a poison to the artistic food crops of India. Indian art was derailed for good and with it Colonists drilled their master-race superiority of their arts, culture and religion in the innocuous, simple Indian minds. The touch stone of beauty became the 'Renaissance' copy perspective, illusionism, light, foreshortening , balancing. All the art of 'Renaissance was petty for it was based on rules of mind and good as technical accomplishment; as vision of unvisited worlds by humanity it was a big cypher.The art as incantation of the spiritual, of nether visions of as yet unformed worlds, as travel through time and beyond, as search for meaning in non-meanings, as the flight of soul to eternal Brahman was what Indian religions--Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism brought the people of the world. All that was deprecated as barbarian, and subhuman by Colonist and his cohort--Missionaries who were in a hurry to 'save' the native from his 'monster' polytheistic gods.

Colonist destroyed the manifest examples of India's spiritual art in its temples and he destroyed the and poisoned the crystal water of the lake of his spiritual imagination. The contradiction between the Colonist and Indians was of crossing swords by material, physical, rule-fertilized art of the former with the spiritual, visionary, Humanistic evocation of the pure spirit by latter. But as always Colonist as the 'victor' imposes and imposes with ruthless wickedness his 'will' on the vanquished.

Mona Lisa's charming smile was no where in the ambit of experience of Indians who in occupied Goa suffered miserably at the hands of Portuguese Colonists. The art of Renaissance Europe was a big lie in the name of Humanism, it closed its eyes to the blood and gore,colonization and slave trade, forced indentured labour, prying away children from mothers, fathers from their families and shipped out to earn profits so that the 'great' 'Humanist' art of Europe could be financed!!!

Iwanted to look at indian art not from tinted Western glasses but from the Humanism of India and its culture and the book Mona Lisa does not smile anymore(ISBN 978-81-8465-512-4) is a humble rambling effort in this direction.