The ‘Art’ and ‘Heart’ of Living

It has become fashionable to blame the youth for all the ills – from lack of values to disrespect of elders to indifference and insensitivity to social issues. Yet, in the same breath, it is with immense hope that the youth is looked upon. From the IT sector to Anna movement, all eyes are on the nation’s youth.

Of course, there are shortcomings. We have a large number of youth, particularly in the tribal districts of the country, who are getting attracted to Naxalism. There are some in border states like Kashmir and the North East who are getting misguided and taking up guns against their own countrymen. There are also many in states like Punjab who are getting increasingly addicted to drugs. Many in the cities are involved in heinous crimes including robbery, rape and murders while a sizeable number in urban areas is getting carried away by the lure of a good life and ignoring their struggling brethren.

However, it would be unfair to make a sweeping statement that the youth as a whole are an insensitive lot. The recent Annual Exhibition of the College of Art, run by the Delhi Government, proved such critics totally wrong.

The students, including deaf and dumb, spoke volumes about the society they live in through 2000 odd creative works of art including sculptures, paintings, posters, animation, layouts, window display, packaging design, photography etc.

The topics the young students, including those belonging to 14 premier art colleges from across the country, covered a wide canvas – from land acquisition to Anna movement, from global warming to ill effects of smoking and from sexual harassment to the loneliness of urban life.

Established way back in 1942 for advanced training in Visual Art as an Art Department in the erstwhile Delhi Polytechnic, the sprawling College of Art located on Tilak Marg in the heart of the national capital offers Bachelors and Masters degrees in painting, sculpture, applied art, visual communication, print making and art history.

According to Prof M Vijayamohan, who has been the college principal for over a decade now, “the objective of the teaching programmes is to achieve overall refinement of the students’ perception not confined to the skills of the profession alone but also to create the right kind of intellect as well as emotional cultivation to arrive at a level of composite creativity and thought”.

And yes, the students of the college are doing extremely well professionally too with even freelancers driving Audi cars. From the logo of ESPN to backgrounds of IPL, from animation films to advertising, the college’s students are involved in several high profile projects and are laughing their way to the banks even before getting their degrees.

So, who says working for a living and a concern for the society cannot or don’t go together? ‘Art’ with a ‘Heart’ has shown the way.