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INDIAN AMERICAN ARTISTS

NATWAR BHAVSAR

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ample of dance: "Take Bharat Natyam: there's the traditional, classical style. But what if somebody does the same dance, but uses modern techniques or uses modern techniques or uses some interpretation of does the same dance about crime on 42nd Street? Don't you think it's very overt that what they're doing is part of something but they're relating it to something else? In the language of pure art, that's how it happens."

Each artist's life experience is different, and the work reflects the life lived. Zarina Hashmi, who grew up in Aligarh in India, has been somewhat of a nomad, a wanderer. She married an Indian diplomat right after completing college and lived in several countries. After the death of her husband in New York, she made that city home but has continued to travel: "Once you put wheels on, it's hard to stop." She maintains a studio here but now teaches art at the University of California in Santa Cruz.

She observes that many Indian-Americans agonize about retiring in India and says, "You know, I took care of that years ago because you can't live like that. People who are displaced, they have a past and memories, but no future. Indians dream of going back but very few do. Things have changed. That's not an option for me. I keep going where I'm going and I'll see what happens."

We all search for meanings, and artists use colors and canvas for their voyage of discovery of the world around them and their connection to it. In that, Zarina Hashmi's 'House on Wheels' seems particularly symbolic. She says the simple title is what it's really about - simply a house on wheels. Pressed for a deeper meaning, she says, "Well, we are a house, aren't we? We carry our own identities, our own emotions where we go. We have a baggage of memories, of our past. I don't even know the idea of home anymore because it really doesn't matter. I am where I am. Wherever you are, you make your home."

Hashmi's earliest exposure to art was Mughal architecture and that is reflected in her geometrical sculptures on wheels, which are also inspired by the terra cotta carts at Mohenjodaro, and Greek sculptures. She says:"In India, we have so much design around us, so much folk art, anything you pick up - textiles, jewellery, objects - and you become aware of an order, and a design. Especially women's lives are full of that. My mother was always sewing and embroidering and that also had a big effect on me."

In spite of those early influences, Hashmi points out that her 35 years out of India have exposed her to Western art and that too has profoundly affected her work. She observes, "I think it changes, moving from place to place, town to town because you look at other things."

Indeed, this merging of Asian and Western is inevitable, as artists are exposed to the world of Western art. By only proclaiming one's Asian identity, there is a danger of getting marginalized and sidelined in an increasingly global culture. Natwar Bhavsar observes: "Whenever art becomes didactic in some ways or narrative in some ways, it really loses the essential purity. Often titles and themes become a burden to the person who has never experienced it. I feel, as Asian artists, if we are going to impact this culture, we are going to do it not by very over sociological themes but by the essentials." He points out that audiences are enthralled by the music of Ravi Shankar of Chaurasiya, not because it's Indian but because it is so special, so essential, and touches a universal chord.

Recalling the joy he received from viewing Western masterpieces, Bhavsar says, "It was like climbing a mountain top. It was a gift I received from here and in turn the gift I can give is what I've brought with me. Integrating ourselves in this society is going to be only possible through pure expressive powers."

He believes that social analysis has timely usages as a vehicle or a stepping stone but is not remembered later. Rather than separating strands, Bhavsar believes in celebrating and accepting all the varied influences around him. "Wisdom translates into receiving all that has to be received and understanding it in a much larger context. That is unique to our Indian culture. I have very deliberately enjoyed and put together whatever I've received throughout my life in my art."

LITTLE INDIA MARCH 1994