Let’s take the Art out of galleries and on the streets!

Established in 1988, Art plaza was found by K.M Shenoy, who left home very early to walk the path of Art. The idea was to provide a platform to artists who could not afford the glorious and expensive art galleries but still wished to exhibit their art. In the first year of its formation he used to make posters and stand alone. Around 1983-84 he started to meet people and plan his vision for this revolutionary art movement. Not everyone supported his idea since people thought it was not dignified to display art on the streets. He got in touch with S Tenekar to get the support of Municipality and wrote to him. He was impressed by Shenoy’s handwriting and planned a meeting with him in which Shenoy discussed his idea of a free space for artists. He immediately granted the space and Shenoy got a few iron stands to begin with. Mr. Shenoy used to manage everything initially from finance to the selection of artists. At the time he was around fifty years old but age didn’t stop him from making this dream come true. He used to get Pav from Yazdani bakery for artists and made sure they were been taken care of. He created an atmosphere for artists to grow as a community. Despite his achievements as an artist, like many others from our community, he failed to be responsible towards his family. After the death of his father, he left home to become an artist and went to Kolkata. From Kolkata to Mumbai, not many know about his journey through the years. Including the artists who knew him closely. His family expected him to stay home and take up responsibilities as he was the eldest at home after his father. He had to choose between the world he grew up in and his passion. He chose his passion pursuit. Because of which his sister remained disappointed throughout his life and they hardly contacted during those years of him evolving as an artist. Towards the end he fell sick and was unable to take care of the plaza the same way he did for years and so he stepped back. He fell sick and died penny less in an old age home, alone. Plaza saw its golden time, people recognized it and many great artists emerged from it. What happened to plaza after him? Why is it struggling for its survival today? In the pursuit of this answer, I spoke to young artists who are associated to plaza today and to the people who remained since the time of its birth. Amanullah Majeed used to work as a supervisor of the courier services at Bank of Baroda near Jehangir art gallery. Painting was his hobby since the time he was 3 years old. During the lunch breaks he used to visit Jehangir to see exhibitions, on one such day he came across Shenoy. That time Mr. Shenoy was open to artists showing him their work and exhibiting it if it was good enough. He always maintained a certain standard. Amanullah Majeed is a self-taught artist and in those days was an amateur. He showed Shenoy his paintings which were rejected by the Bombay art society. Shenoy gave him his insights and asked him to make some more paintings and come back. In 1986 Amanullah Majeed did his first exhibition at the Art Plaza. He became a regular and 2-3 years later he became a committee member. Later he was promoted as the treasurer and then to Secretary. He is the current treasurer of the plaza. Elections are conducted every three years and committee meetings are held monthly. Amanullah Majeed has various reasons to support Plaza’s current situation. This generation of artists believe it is difficult survive as a full-time artist. Parents at most want their kids to become art teachers so they have a stable income. The art world is easier for those who have money and contacts. For those who don’t, Plaza could be useful. He states, going to an art gallery might cost you a fortune and if your show goes flop, you will be under debt. A huge amount of money goes into conducting an exhibition and to even get the bare minimum profit is difficult as the art market is suffering. If you are somebody with good enough contacts, you can think of making money from an exhibition. They believe there are two major things to be considered and done for the good of plaza. Firstly, a full time employee who takes care of the place, shows the artists the plaza office where they can keep their paintings, make them understand how the system here works and take care of the paintings in plaza office. Secondly, a covering metal stands should be constructed replacing the existing ones so the paintings could be well protected and plaza could remain open even during the monsoon. Every year, Art plaza is shut for four months during the monsoon season. There should be more activities and programs organised for crowds to be attracted and for the place to regain it’s atmosphere. To this, a young artist named Anmol Tambe agrees. He is a JJ school of art student who takes leaves from college to exhibit at art plaza. He sees this place as a useful platform for budding artists. The first time he made money out of selling his paintings here, he went and bought all the art material he had been wishing to buy for a very long time. He thinks the existing committee members should visit colleges and promote plaza to motivate youngsters to contribute their art here and exhibit. He finds a good atmosphere at plaza as an artist which he is unable to find in his college. Mr. Rajput, ex secretary of art plaza does not agree in going to institutions and bringing artists on board as he believes it would not be fair to force or influence anybody to exhibit their art. It should come from within he says. Amanullah Majeed too believes that Plaza till date is maintaining a certain standard and so it is acceptable by them if the stands remain empty but they would not exhibit art which does not reach to the level they have set for themselves. Om Rajput studied at the JJ school of arts and worked commercially after 1987 for 2-3 years. He used to work at an Ad agency where he barely made two grand a month. When he first exhibited at Plaza, he earned much more in a day because of the good sales. And so he decided to quit his job and become completely involved with Plaza. Shenoy offered him to make landscapes and got him a membership. At the time there were 40 members. The committee consists of artists, 'non-artists' and hobbyists. Today there are about 30-35 members and nobody wants to become a member. Why? Om Rajput stated his reasons for not being a very active member himself after all these years, the reason was close to what Amanullah Majeed too had to offer. They have become old. Their health and physical strength does not allow them anymore to be active participants of the Plaza. They did as much as they could after Shenoy passed away. Earlier there was discipline in Young artists. Plaza used to open at 11 am sharp and today nobody turns up until 2-3 pm. They want young artists to take up the responsibility now and take Shenoy’s dream ahead from here and keep the dream alive. One such artist named Ankit Gupta is found sitting everyday at one of the stands making portraits. He is from Jharkhand and has been in Mumbai for the past 9 years. He is a self-taught artist with no formal education in art. Before he came to Bombay to pursue his artistic dreams, he was in Delhi for two years. Initially, he used to sit at marine drive through the nights for five years to make portraits. At that time there was no other artist at Marine drive doing such a thing. This even landed him in the jail a couple times, but he got out by making portraits of the policemen. Today, he takes care of everything at Plaza. From exhibiting paintings to taking care of the office. He is the only regular working member at the plaza at present. This year in January he did his first exhibition at the plaza. On the days when there are no artists exhibiting, he is asked to fill all the stands by his work. He believes an atmosphere should be created, ten different artists doing ten different genres of art at one place would interest people and more artists would be attracted. Since January, Art plaza started to charge a thousand rupees as maintenance/donation to support the reasons mentioned Above by Aman. If Ankit could choose to stay in a city far away from his land, if Amol can skip college to exhibit his art at this street, if Om Rajput and Amanullah Majeed could travel by local trains to occasionally see the state of plaza despite their deteriorating health, then why can’t the rest? Art Plaza needs to be saved, the dream Shenoy lived and died with/for should stay alive. Artists still need a free space to exhibit their art, which is existing but just not surviving.