The art of vandalism

Nonika Singh

 “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

— Banksy

As an art form, graffiti, however, disturbs more than it comforts and continues to raise eyebrows and evinces more curiosity than admiration. Some eyeballs yes but little understanding since most Indians perceive graffiti as defacement or at best as a desperate bid by lovers to immortalise their love on public walls.

The going might be tough; nevertheless a young and faithful tribe of graffiti artists, including many women, is growing. However, a few prefer to use only pseudonyms.

The star of the Indian graffiti scene Daku guards his privacy quite fiercely and zealously. While he wouldn’t care to reveal his real identity he revels in emblazoning Delhi’s walls with his acquired name Daku with a dare that is usually the hallmark of graffiti artists. Implicit in the word which he often writes in Devanagari is the illegality of it all. His reasons for turning to graffiti, “Contemporary art in India has reached a point where it has stopped relating to people. They fail to understand why some works go under the hammer at obscenely high prices… what’s so remarkable about the abstraction that fetches crores?”

So as a counter-culture to wine-sippers at art galleries, he, and many like him, decided to move into public domain, not that it has made common man understand art better. His signature Daku has given birth to many an intriguing fable. He recalls how once an auto-rickshaw driver told him that Daku is a real-life bandit who marks his territory before he loots that area. While Daku is bemused by such response Anpu Varkey often finds such remarks rather distracting. Once she simply stopped in her tracks when a passerby remarked — oh this is an advertisement for a chappal. Yet she goes on with her trademark mischievous cat motifs heartened by the meowing of enthusiastic kids around her.

The real excitement, however, comes from meeting the daunting visual challenge that a blank wall imposes. Physically, it requires more energy. More cans of paints go into creating a mammoth work that could easily go wrong. Quite a thankless task really that often is not paid for. But graffiti is not always for gratis. In the West the works of Banksy, eminent British graffiti artist and political activist best known for his satirical social and political commentary, have sold for over hundred thousand pounds. Closer home Yantra, one of the pioneering graffiti artists in India known for his bio-geometric designs, has been making a living out of this radical expression. Four years ago, this alumnus of Baroda University quit his well-paying job in an advertising firm and became a full-fledged graffiti artist. Commissioned projects at music festivals and advertising firms ensure a steady stream of income. Even Daku, for whom graffiti is a form of protest, has a loyal clientele. Why, the undercover artist has even designed for celebs like Hrithik Roshan and more recently for Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif’s love nest.

Interestingly, while their art might be right out there in the public eye, their following grows in the virtual world. Says Daku, “An overwhelming majority of the work is seen on the social media platforms not on the actual physical site.”

Artists like Zine, influenced by the hip hop and rap culture, find their adrenaline rush in creating on the sly and on the edge. The devil-may-care nature of Daku’s work, which even has the PWD on his heels, is not likely to change. However, graffiti isn’t always an undercover activity. Though it was Daku’s work that inspired Yantra, he steers clear of bombing in the night and painting walls he has no right over. “What’s the point when people are ready to grant me permission and even pay for my bread and butter?” Anpu Varkey, too, does not feel the need for midnight raids, nor is graffiti a political statement or a loaded message for her and many of her ilk. Look, see, feel and experience — it’s this aspect of art in public domain that excites her.

  World over street art and graffiti are interlinked but in India the line is thin and diffused enough to be non-existent. Zine, who sticks to the conventional method of graffiti, replete with typography and tagging, says, “In India, there are not enough artists in the field to make that line and for the distinction to hold any relevance.” 

Mint Serf might have said, “If it takes more than five minutes, its not graffiti,” but for most Indian artists graffiti isn’t art on the go, to be created in a jiffy. Collaborations are a norm. Zine’s three-member group is called Aerosol Assassins. Other graffiti artists and those who specialise in street art too often work together. 

Yantra worked on India's largest mural of Dadasaheb Phalke in Mumbai created by Ranjit Dahiya. Dahiya, who graduated from Government College of Art, Chandigarh and NID, gravitated towards street art after he landed in Mumbai. An avid movie buff he felt that Mumbai, home to Bollywood, had nothing to show that it housed one of world’s most prolific film industries. So he formed Bollywood Art Project and has since been creating film icons, on Mumbai’s walls, his favourite being Big B and Kishore Kumar.

What keeps him going is the support and love of the local populace. While impermanence is in the nature of this art surprisingly his works that can be seen in Bandra have so far withstood the test of time and the whims of BMC officials and the police who pose no impediments to his creative process. And Mumbaiwasis are so protective about his creations that they won’t allow anyone to spit on those walls.

To prevent paan spitters and to ensure walls do not become open lavatories Harshvardhan Kadam paints images of gods and goddesses on public walls. Quite the reverse of vandalism... come to think of it lending credence to Banksy’s words, “Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.”

Actually confusing graffiti artists with vandals is missing the point they are trying to make and street art, anyway, is often called the polite version of graffiti. Says Dahiya, “The difference between graffiti and street art is that graffiti is fallout of western influence while street art has more indigenous roots.” But as Daku goes around painting his name and the ‘F’ word in Devanagri as well as voicing concerns which are largely local the Indianisiation of graffiti can’t be missed. 

Even Dahiya concedes that graffiti is indeed a part of street art both of which incidentally are rather new in Indian contemporary art circuit. While graffiti is yet to become a movement here, despite India having strong roots dating back to centuries of art and murals in public spaces, street art is still in a nascent stage. Street art in India is a baby, says Dahiya. As and when it grows, as the art form right now is limited to few cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengalru and Pune, and moves to other places like say Chandigarh he would love to paint Dara Singh on the walls of City Beautiful.

With India fast becoming a concrete jungle perhaps in this vibrant and evolving art form lies the answer to the deadening monotony and sameness. And then like in the West it could also move to museums and galleries. But for now graffiti writers and street artists are only too happy with the alternate space. Walls as canvas, what can be more grandiose or fulfilling than that? No wonder, celebrations have already begun and street art festivals have become an important destination for both art lovers and artists.