Art Quotes by Srinivas Krothapally

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About 30 original quotes by me on art, which I am posting in this article are gathered from my Facebook updates.Some quotes lack coherence and they need editing. I will do this after sometime.Thank You_KSV

•  A well made fake can arouse more interest and art awareness to common people, than the original art kept at high security museum halls not easily accessible to the people. 

• Learn from Tagore's Paintings how basic art art materials could be transformed in to create great art.

• I hate painting Indian subjects with muted colours resembling a faded murals, however my teachers did likewise.

• Ameteur artists should desist from gimmicks. If they really want to earn money while learning they should practice crafts which go hand in hand with art.

• Don't ask me to do your portraits, paintings of your motor bike or your bull dog...I am programmed to do something else!!! 

• Enormity of western paintings (new and old) are being circulated in the face book walls by friends, artists and lovers of art. While they can be admired for being original, powerful and honest expressions, none of the Indian artists who take pride in following the western style are not able to come close to their quality. This is because of the scientific training in observation and techniques of the west.More than the act of admiring the western art by circulating them on internet, the reason why Indian artists circulate this to my opinion (which may be wrong in some cases) is that they have a fear of being underestimated as semi-skilled people with “not so” cultivated international taste.

• …not interested on how Vermeer used light on his models, not interested about detectives hunting for DNA samples of Da Vinci and Monalisa….Tell us how can we prevent art from dying from media onslaught!

• I met an young copycat Ravi Varma artist who is doing fairly good business in Chennai galleries.I asked him if ever tried to paint some original art with his distinct personal techniques. He said no new styles are now possible to paint because many artists from previous generations have tried and exhausted all possible styles. Hence he said it is useless venture to try new styles... What do you think of this?

• Over enthusiasm is the biggest enemy for artists. Don't work on canvases with costly pigments unless commissioned by reliable clients. Use watercolour and paper for your experimental works. Spend money wisely!! Art on paper is as permanent as the works on canvas, Folios of Da vinci still exists after five hundred years. 

• When an artist is dying, he should incinerate all his art works remaining with him.

• 80 percentage of Art of painting is craftsmanship, and rest 20 percentage real art.( sometimes achieving this is beyond human means)

• My past achievements if at all there is anything, let me put them in trash can..Judge me by what i draw today...!!!

• No less a person than the President of the United states will inaugurate my next art show.

• I am fortunate to hear personal accounts about sculptor Ram Kinkar Baij from two of his contemporaries. Late Mr. T.Kesava Rao who was then in late 80's told me about him, and about his sculpture projects during Mr. Rao's tenure in Shantinekatan as student of art. Late.Prof .Dhanapal who visited Shantiniketan during young time was impressed by Kinkar’s style; he confesses he derived more inspiration from Mr.Kinkar than from his guru D.P Roy Choudhury. In his auto- biographical essays published in a Tamil journal, Late Dhanapal describes Ram Kinkar as a person with little education, belonging to a local tribal community and an habitual drinker who enjoys country liquor.

• Buy art from the artist, boycot middle man...unlike in other countries, art services, original art works are still affordable here.. boycott reproductions and prints.

• Let each artist dislike other artists. Let him be apathetic to others work. That is the only way people can see new creations in art works each so different, unconventional and radically new.

• Lack of sensitivity to art by people, adopting pseudo international style by the artist community are the two main reasons for the backward position of art in our nation.

• If you think Facebook is a very useful tool for promoting art, and related fields, you are totally wrong. The illustrations, paintings, comics, photography, movies, videos etc and everything is media induced. They are purely circulated with the sole intention of making you deprived of your originality.

• This is my general observation since many years, There is a tendency among so- called educated Indian class readily accept western art. They pretend their art sensibility is so high and they could admire any “isms” created in west. The second hand knowledge from media like story of vangogh’s severed ear and incidents from da vinci code come handy to these fellows to justify their claim. The same persons who associate with western art are totally unaware and unconnected to Indian art. These f—kers can’t appreciate any thing in native art other than the idol paintings hung in hotel saravana bhavan, and Ravi varma.

• I don't think my art as extraordinary. But no one so far in past had approached art in the way I paint .I have consciously shunned so many known prototypes.

• Had opportunity to see original artworks of Rabindranath Tagore at National Gallery of Modern Art ( NewDelhi/ Bangaluru) I am a great fan of his works.I have read several books written by him, though I do not fully understand.Read his poetry too. In one of his book in my collection on Indian Art, he correlates Indian art with Indian philosophy and Upanishad verses.Most recent book I had read by Tagore is" The Spirit of Japan" (which is available for a small fee at Kindle).This book is the collection of lectures Tagore had made during his Japan tour. Lectures emphasizes the relevance of oriental art in the modern world.

• What good is Art repatriation from far off countries, when "educated" Indians have lost all their cultural links from their mother land and disregard art and other creative ventures as stupidity??There is no living art form surviving here. Most art forms are dead, some dying rapidly, some succumbed to evils of business and bureaucracy. Where is real connoisseurship?

• In past few days during my stay in Chennai, met many art enthusiasts and students. Invariably everybody was using their smart phones to download art tutorials and images and trying to copy them as art works.( some of them were semi literates).These Pseudo European images made by them lacked power, had no naivety or any element of originality. Felt very sad as these are greatest threats for Indian art and regional accents.

• Gallerists should ensure artists make good art,not about the scheme of colours and brands they use.An expensive frame will not make a bad art better.

• All art materials are becoming expensive, planning to work with mythyl violet and human blood.

• Friendly Tips to Artists: When you are not able to sell art and make living, Don't indulge in lobbying or gambling. Don't gossip.Paint at least two paintings a day. Don't eat and Drink too much. Be physically fit, even in case you don't find opening in art and all your money is gone. You will be still able to do physical labour. Artists make excellent wall painters, stone masons, brick masons and expert joiners. This applies to many professions, only you have to change nomenclatures!!

• I know artists who left the field, who found art not conducive to earn even to make a decent living. A friend became Idly vendor, another milk vendor, another man a supervisor for scavengers another man conducts sabarimalai tours seasonally .

• If you are an art admirer don't indiscriminately share images of art, people will be more interested why you like them. If you are into fashion industry, don't share the celebrity photos...show us your preliminary sketches and explain how you will arrive at finished products.

• Art based on observation is a mere illustration. This is dangerous. More dangerous than this is fake abstraction.

• Original art can only be achieved by student artists only when he is taught art in isolation with graphic design,computer bassed illustrations, commercial art and even the study of old masters.

• It has been more than 200 years since fine arts colleges were established in India. None of the students they have ever produced achieved global reputation. In fact the western world lost interest in Indian art after death of traditional art.Let us convert our arts colleges to colleges teaching veterinary sciences or use them as store houses for public distribution system!!!

• When I draw a face, let it look like face. When I draw a testicle let it look like it..