Original Impressions

Husband-wife team saves little-known art form

by Rohan L. Jayetilleke

The Shahpur Jat is a narrow lane in New Delhi. Ensconced in this narrow lane is 'Atelier 2221', a studio offering world-class print making facilities, fighting for survival though.

The owner of this studio, Pratibha Dakoji says, "Print is an original form of art and she repeat it again a again. Her impatience is quiet disturbing to an art critic, as there is a lack of knowledge about this art medium in India there is no impact on art its market severely.

Pratibha explaining the difference between prints or copies of a work of art and print-making, she says, "In case of a painting, artist uses paints, brush and a canvas. Copies of such paintings are not called 'original art'. In print-making however, the artist makes his own drawings on a matrix plate instead of on paper. This plate is worked on a medium of the artist's choice and is then developed into as many editions as the artist wishes. Each of the print is signed by the artist, which proves of its originality".

Pratibha, who grew up in East Africa and studied print-making at the Chelsea School of Art in London, further explains that after the artist has drawn on the plate, he is assisted by a master printer, professionally trained to deal with the medium.

That is why, she says, it is also called collaborative art. Pratibha's husband, Devraj, a master printer with several years of expertise in premier institutions like the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico and Bob Blackburn's Print-making workshop in New York, says,; "Somehow even the best known artists in India are hesitant to pursue print-making. They are on tender hooks because of the lack of awareness of collectors in India. Thus, this medium needs more promotion for a wider and lucrative market.

In contrast print-making is a very popular medium in the West. Britain, for example, has 70 edition studies and there are over 100 such studies in and around Paris. Van Gogh and Picasso have been involved with prints.

In India, Raja Ravi Verma, had set up a workshop in Lonavala in 1894 with a German painter and a technician, who by the dot technique, copied the paintings which was then varnished to give an effect of an oil painting. These and similar works are called oleographs.

"Ours is now the only commercially functioning edition studio in India" the husband and wife duo of Dakoji say, "Though Central government's autonomous model organisation of Lalita Kala Kendra do have the facility, they do not provide the expertise and as such the artists have to do everything themselves.

This becomes a nerve-wrecking experience to the artist. Besides, more artists would not know the technique of taking out print editions in the first place".

In the discipline of print making affordability is the most adventurous. An artist could price an original print at much lower price than an original canvas painting. In case an artist can make Rs. (Indian - Sri Lanka rupees is nearly 67 per cent below par to the Indian rupee and still continuing to tumble) 5,000 per print, he could safely make Rs. 5 lakhs for 100 prints.

The same creation on a canvas is more time consuming and never cost-effective, costing much more than Rs. 5,000 per canvas, it takes longer days and hours of concentration, where human error is not tolerated at any cost.

Therefore, printing makes original art more budget-friendly and affordable for the middle and upper middle class market, who form the segment of art connoisseurs in India, a trend totally absent in Sri Lanka even among the richest of the rich or even corporate business houses, banks, who spend lakhs and lakhs of rupees for audio-video-print and cutout advertising of their goods and services, and the walls of their office mansions are just blank giving the impression - writing is on the wall - we do not promote painters.

In India there is an awareness and appreciation among the middle class about art, for they know, India has a long heritage in art dating back to 5,000 B.C., as yielded by the clay seals yielded by the excavations of Mohendojaro and Harappa cities (both now in Pakistan territory) where engravings of animals are there.

Further, this Indus civilization's script which has still not been deciphered is pictographic, with around 400 scripts, meaning pictures of animals. The modern scripts of all languages are based on the parts of the bodies of animals.

This middle class art lovers could afford Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 5,000 for an original print, which is within their earnings. Thus print-making has ushered in an untapped market for the artists. For a print, unlike a painting does not get mellowed or fade away or get destroyed with the march of time.

Presently, this writer's experience in New Delhi, there is a shortage of good master printers. Anyone who knows print can pull print editions out but only a master printer who could give it that professional finish can make it an art form. Atelier 2221 has hosted artists like B. C. Sanyal and Manu Parekh and also promotes promising upcoming artists.

If you are a painter, why not just fly to Chennai, take TK electric Express Train to New Delhi 47 hours travel and drop in at Atelier and gather the discipline and start print-making in Sri Lanka.