Art is no longer just a reflection of one’s inner self, it’s an amalgamation of various cultural influences. Renowned artists assembled together to share thoughts on fusion. By ARPITA SINGH
Art is no longer a singular expression of thought but a melange of influences that dominates our mindspace. “Art is a mirror image of the society. I am in the profession for 40 years and can feel that art in the modern age has not remained original. Everything we see around is a fusion of one or the other thing,” said torso artist Kanchan Chander during a weekend talk at the Oxford Book Store.
Kanchan said she now works with mixed media. “I work either on canvas and then embellish it with sequences or I try to take printouts of my art pieces and then beautify them further. And this is a kind of fusion I do in my art. Everbody is actually trying to follow the Western trend in their respective art forms. So a trace of fusion can be noticed in every art form,” she added.
For Renu Shahnawaz Hussain, a renowned poet and a creative writer, fusion is the necessary element of life. “If we see life with a deeper sense, it is an outcome of fusion. life will become stagnant if there are no changes in it. life cannot move without fusion,” she said.
Renu’s poetry is more about nature, her work aims to make changes in the arena of contemporary women. She said, “Whatever professions we are dealing with, whether it is art, culture, home-making, engineering or any other field, fusion is very important to bring in new changes and make it more interesting.”
Pallav Chander, known for directing his English romantic comedy play The love of Don Kuka, said, “If we talk about the languages used in theatre, then it has not remained original. Hinglish is used more nowadays in plays, which is a combination of two languages that is English and Hindi.”
A bachelor in fine arts from Birmingham City University, UK, Pallav believes fusion plays an important role in theatre. “Theatre is not an individual work. It is basically a team work formed by fusion of musicians, script writer, artist and artists,” he told us.
Odissi exponent Sharon lowen argued how her dance form was a fusion of different classical dance forms. “In modern dance, we are free to use and combine any movement and languages and that is what we call fusion,” she added. Sharon tried to explain fusion in dance by showcasing fusion of belly dance with Odissi through one of her power point presentations which was performed by dancer Nitisha Nanda.iy