The Glenfiddich Emerging Artist of the Year Award celebrates individuality and free-thinking. Team Viva speaks to Andy Fairgrieve who’s pushing the frontiers of new expressions
Anju Kaushik depicted the skeletons we would become if we constantly used plastic bottles. loknath Pradhan represented humanity in the form of King Kong taking over the world. Deepak Kumar exhibited the long tentacles of a bird gnawing on the agricultural lands and crops. Yogesh Naik showed a bigger picture of the Indian washrooms with centre fresh wrapper, graffiti, cigarette butts littered around with people as little figures emoting versatile expressions. He added an informal element in one painting in the form of doodling art.
These were some of the displays from the work of top five artists which were chosen and were exhibited at the Best College Art Gallery for a jury of 12 members to decide who would be the recipient of the seventh Glenfiddich Emerging Artist of the Year Award. And these in turn were chosen from 1,700 artists across India.
The artworks ranged from the day-to-day activities and routines of rural India painted on a canvas to capturing the expression of a street vendor selling clothes sitting idle and waiting for customers in the scorching heat. The global curator and organiser of Glenfiddich’s Artists in Residence programme, Andy Fairgrieve, announced the seventh emerging artist of the year award which was handed over to Biplap Sarkar. His miniaturist narrative body of work explores the relationship of body and object in an urban context largely dealing with the lifestyle and struggles of hawkers working at heritage sites, tourist places, local market or the independent wanderers. Accepting the award, Sarkar said, “I look forward to exploring new ideas while working with artists from different cultures and practices.”
The sole organiser of this ever expanding global art programme, Andy Fairgrieve enjoys art that is absurd, ludicrous or ridiculous. Defying conventions, he believes rules and regulations have always pushed us to do things a certain way.
The innovation of the art programme started in 2002 to encourage and invite artists from across the world to spend three months at the Glenfiddich distillery and create new art. “The conventions dictated by a brand sponsorship were not imposed at all. We simply invite an artist and give them space free from any restrictions or problems associated with everyday life to experiment, take their work into new arenas which is what emerging art is all about.”
Fairgrieve is responsible for all aspects of the programmes operations including organising the logistics of the artists’ stay and the display of their work. He is based at the Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown, Scotland where the programme is hosted.
Every year, the organisers bring in a new group of individuals together from various countries. “I think artists are keen to learn from other people’s practice,” he says. The challenges inlude getting an artist in touch with a certain person who can help him with his area of work or creating a certain situation which inspires an artist. As the sole organiser, Fairgrieve plays a unique role and enjoys the challenges because every year is different. He has been doing it for the past 17 years and has always tried to keep it fresh.
For the residence programme every artist needs to submit a proposal to gauge their enthusiasm for the residency. Said he, “It provides a framework and focussses our energies to see which line of work the artist might be working with. A few years ago, we didn’t have facilities for glass painting but we knew in advance that an artist would be working with glass through his proposals. So we made the necessary arrangements. The proposals are never concrete. An artist changes during the residency because they are inspired by something.”
There is no specific criteria to choose the emerging artist. During the selection process, the jury gauges how an individual would benefit from it. “The idea is to give artists time and space to explore, expand and develop to the next level. Biplap is a keen observer. He’ll have a good range of inspiration.”
He feels it is high time that society values art and art makers. “We need more awards to give opportunities for artists to strive. Competition is a good confidence booster. It would be lovely to see artists with residencies that include financial aid so artists do not have to worry about anything else and can focus on their creativity. Usually, once an artist graduates from art school, reality hits them and they need money which distracts them from art.” When things turn worse, art is the first to suffer. The education system needs to support arts just like science.
On a lighter note, among all the human emotions, Fairgrieve feels humour has a lovely effect. “It’s one of the most evolved emotions. Anger, fear are raw emotions and there’s enough of that in this world. So, anything that promotes humour and gets people smiling is the best.”