A mysterious new work of art by Kripa Bhatia

A mysterious new exhibition has been the center of attraction of the modern art gallery. This work of art has been in place for six months, but continues to generate controversy. The artist behind this work is extremely popular. So there have been mixed reactions from the public. Many admired him and all his works, regardless of the subject of his art. But others called him crazy and said this work was a parody of art.

The first day the artwork was brought home to the gallery, it appeared like a painter’s rag, smeared with paint stains. But every evening, the artist added new elements to the canvas, and every morning, the public who came to see the artwork saw a new, different composition in the same frame.

Interpretation

At first, art critics claimed that the world had been endowed with a new abstract expressionist genius and compared the artist to Jackson Pollock. At the same time, there were others who openly denounced the work. Over the following weeks, as the artist began to add new elements to the painting, people’s interpretations also changed.

One day, a torn bed sheet, a mounted goat and a worn tire were found protruding from the frame of the artwork and people immediately associated him with Robert Rauschenberg. The artist has been praised by some for his mature sense of pop art. Still others spat at the artwork and cursed at it. Then another day when people found a beautiful cup of tea on the canvas, the artist was compared to Mary Cassatt. Later, as the foam began to gather around the cup, the audience hinted at Méret Oppenheim, claiming the artist was making a feminist statement. So, day after day, the work of art began to gather and pile up with empty paint bottles, rags, toothpicks, empty drug strips, a torn pillowcase. , tissue papers, used tea bags, banana peels, worn shoes, rusty threads, discarded CDs and all the garbage you could think of. And with each new element came thunderous applause and praise, or even greater indignation from the public and the media.

The mystery revealed

The artist who had stayed on the sidelines, isolating himself from all the controversy and the media for six months, suddenly announced a public appearance at a press conference. The calm and seemingly thoughtful artist sat down facing a mixed audience that was scowling, admiring, abusive and awe-inspiring. Finally he spoke in a simple, reassuring voice, full of wisdom and maturity.

“You wanted a work of art from me. But what I gave you was my autobiography. I have allowed you to enter into my process of creating the work of art. Typically, what you see in the gallery is a finished work of art. It rarely suggests how the artist conceived and created it. So I decided to reverse it and present to the world my work process and the time it took to create the hidden work of art.

The art that lives on

With this, the artist revealed to the public a surprisingly original work of art. The old one has been replaced by the new work of art in the gallery. But now the public was considering the artwork and getting a lot more out of it than it suggested on the surface. Yet the interpretations were varied and vast, although the self-sustaining quality of the art had been achieved.

Kripa Bhatia lives in Mumbai, and her first children’s book “It’s About Our Existence” is due out by Tulika