As leading galleries and artists from across the world come together in New Delhi for the India Art Fair, another art movement is quietly changing the urban landscape of the city, one building at a time. During a month-long festival starting in February, St+Art Delhi aims to promote urban and street art in India by providing a collaborative platform for artists from all over the world. "Street art is just a way of taking art out of museums and galleries and on to the streets. We don't want art to be limited to a privileged few," says Hanif Kureshi, co-founder of St+Art India Foundation, the non-profit comprising young enthusiasts working to put Delhi on the world street art map.
The eight projects slated for the festival could well transform Delhi’s women’s shelters, night shelters, flyover pillars, underpasses and government buildings. “This year, we are collaborating with different government bodies such as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Public Works Department and Department of Women and Child Development, to create art on their buildings,” says Kureshi. “We want to change our familiar, sometimes drab, urban landscapes using street art.” Besides art, the festival will feature street dance performances and curated walks.
In December 2014, St+Art Mumbai brought the once-grimy walls in Bandra to life with aquamarine tetrapods, cats licking their paws and a disturbing image of an assembly line of teddy bears. The festival culminated with Amitabh Bachchan inaugurating a 120×150 feet mural of Dadasaheb Phalke on the walls of the MTNL Building in Bandra Reclamation. “The mural is the largest in India, and actually visible all the way from Phalke’s home. This was our homage to the father of Indian cinema,” says Kureshi. The highlights of last year’s St+Art Delhi included a giant mural of Gandhi on the walls of the towering headquarters of the Delhi Police, a graffiti “jam” (collaboration by different artists) on the walls of a Dwarka school and the beautification of the walls of Shahpur Jat and Hauz Khas village. The responses from the bemused locals were largely positive.
“This is because street art, unlike graffiti, isn’t necessarily anti-establishment,” says Kureshi. “We see it as being capable of bringing positive change in urban landscapes.” Kureshi and his team shortlist venues and then advise artists to paint themes in sync with the neighbourhoods. The term street art gained popularity during the graffiti art boom of the early 1980s. Sticker art, video projections, yarn bombing, wall murals and installations are equally significant forms of modern street art. Whether you’re in the subway in New York or walking through the alleys of Paris, street art today seems to have gone beyond being mere socio-political commentary. It now invites comment even as it imparts a unique personality to its large and public canvas.
The lineup of artists this year is impressive. Rukkit from Bangkok is known for his colourful, seemingly pixelated images. Olek, a Brooklyn-based artist, creates intensely colourful artworks with bits of yarn, on themes relating to women’s rights, sexual equality and freedom of expression. Axel Void of Miami is strongly influenced by classical painting, but now moves between murals, spray cans, installation, oil paintings, audio and video recordings and countless drawings to delve into uncomfortable socio-psychological issues. Lady Aiko of Tokyo uses techniques of collaging, stenciling, silk screening and handpainting to create layered images full of life and energy. Kureshi points out that for a country the size of India, its share in the global art market is minuscule. “This festival is our contribution towards making art a practice in India.”
Given that St+Art India Foundation is a non-profit organisation, funds have, surprisingly, not beenhard to find. Since most of their activities are at public venues open to all, they take place mostly on the road. “Street art and commerce don’t really go together,” smiles Kureshi. The foundation has been supported by Goethe Institute, Japan Foundation and other cultural institutes, while embassies have supported St+Art by bringing their artists for the festival. “Asian Paints supplies us with all the paint we need,” says Akshat Nauriyal, member of the St+Art team. “We had over 40 artists for the first St+Art festival in Delhi last year and we want to invite more every year.”
While the India Art Fair attracts art lovers to its rarefied environs, St+Art is looking for public spaces across the country to transform. The writing on the wall is clear: the Indian art scene is going to witness exciting times ahead.
For a complete schedule of events, visit www.facebook.com/startindiafoundation
