What are Indian art, market and law?

 

Media Art and Communication

    There has been a discussion since the beginning on the originality of independent existence rising above reproduction or rewriting in art. It is a different matter that all the artists have always maintained their originality by adopting values from tradition. Our consciousness of seeing whatever is artistic in the environment in which we live often creates something new. If we go to the galleries of famous artists, it becomes clear that there, in the name of past and tradition, new things are always created while exploring the present. Apart from this, all the other arts also give us a new perspective to see the future, but this is an era in which art is fast becoming a market commodity. It is natural that now market values have started nourishing it and in such a situation, the meaning of originality in art is also changing rapidly. Along with originals, imitations have also started being sold indiscriminately in the art market. It was once said that arts provide values to humans by making them educated and cultured, but ever since the market has come to dominate art, values have started disintegrating rapidly. Ignoring the rules and regulations and decorum, the sole purpose of art is becoming to earn money. This is the reason why the trend of copying in art has increased rapidly here. Today in the art market, 25 to 30 percent of the artworks are being sold as fakes by pretending to be genuine. This is a new discipline of art in which no one is caring about rules and regulations.

    I remember reading somewhere, famous artist S.H. Raza was invited by a famous art gallery to inaugurate an art exhibition. Raza was shocked when he saw that his own fake artifacts were displayed at the exhibition he had come to inaugurate. Not only this, Christie's and Sadbee's of America are famous art galleries of the world. There, any artwork is included for auction only after thorough investigation, but some time ago, at least 13 artworks of famous painters of Indian origin were removed from the auction list on suspicion of being fake. Think about it. If this is the condition of the world's prestigious painting auction houses, then it can be guessed that what kind of scam involving fake artworks might be going on in other art galleries.

    The fundamental surgeon has been termed as labor pain at many levels. When an artist creates something, he puts himself into it in a way. After this internal process of art, if an artist finds a copy of his original creation somewhere, then what should he do about it?

It can be estimated that it will pass. This is the bitter truth of today's art market. In this, along with originals, fake artifacts are also being sold for lakhs and crores. The buyer is looting; the original artist does not know that the market is earning more for fake works than for his original work. From Picasso, Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall to Raza, Hussain, Manjeet Bawa, J. In the sale of artworks of Swaminathan, Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Anjali Ila Menon, it seems as if there is no difference between the original and the imitation.

    There was a lot of talk about copying of Anjali Ila Menon's 'Female Head' painting, so Subodh Gupta would never forget that a gallery in Colaba, Mumbai had taken a photograph of one of his fake paintings using digital technology to prove it as real. Also got it made. In this, Subodh Gupta is seen standing near his fake painting. With the help of new technology, copying has actually become an art. Such art is being sold even with the original artist's signature.

    Not long ago, the artworks of Kolkata artist Ajay Ghosh were being sold at Christie's as the artworks of Nandlal Bose. In Ajay Ghosh's artwork, his signature was banded over and the signature 'Nando' was also raised over it. Isn't it amazing! Even further happened with the drawings of Ganesha Pain. Colored photocopies of Ganesh Pain's drawings were being sold as genuine. The subtlety in this fraud of copying is so much that not only the greatest art connoisseur but even the artist himself gets deceived. When his son saw Hussain's Raj series painting 'Raja and Rani' in a famous art gallery in Chennai, he found that it was a fake. Hussain then issued an appeal in the newspapers asking art collectors to send color photographs of his artworks to confirm their authenticity, but Hussain himself could not catch the details of the copy of his paintings.

    It is true that with the development of information and communication technology, the echo of contemporary Indian art has started being heard in faraway countries and the demand for the artworks of Indian artists has also increased rapidly, but the same truth is also that it has created a fake market of art. has also increased rapidly. Even though artists have started getting good prices for their artworks in the global market of online art exhibitions, what has also happened is that the fake artworks of those who are in high demand in the market also come into the market immediately. The main reason for this tendency of imitation in art is the rapidly growing art market. This is where artifacts are bought and sold according to status. Assistants and fan artists of famous artists have also promoted it no less. For example, Anjali Ila Menon's associate Hameed brought copies of her artworks to the market, while Manjeet Bawa's assistant Mahendra Sono sold copies of Bava's artworks. J. Very few people have Swaminathan's paintings, but a copy of his Chidiya and Pahad series was found being sold by a major art gallery of America. When Swaminathan's son, cultural critic Kalidas, came to know about this, he stopped the auction of the fake artwork.

    We still don't have much awareness about this corruption in art. Perhaps the biggest reason for this is that there is not much publicity among the artists as well as the general public about the laws and regulations related to artworks. To stop the trend of unauthorized copying in the field of art and literature, the Copyright Act was passed in the country on June 4, 1957 and it came into force throughout India from January 21, 1958. Later, amendments were made from time to time in accordance with international conventions and now the 'Copyright (Amendment) Act' is effectively implemented in the country. If anyone is found infringing copyright, a provision has been made to immediately file a report against him in the nearest police station and even jail him. The tendency of copying in art can be completely stopped under various sections and sub-sections of this law, but artists do not have the time to take help of this law. Anyway, instead of involving themselves in legal complications, artists believe that it is better to let whatever is going on, after all, even if copies of their artworks are sold in the art market, it is their name that is being made. This is the reason why the trend of imitation along with the original is continuously increasing. There have been exceptions in some issues. For example, Anjali Ila Menon had sent her assistant to jail in the matter of fake art.

    However, the demand for Indian artifacts is increasing rapidly in foreign countries. The trend of storing important artifacts of the country abroad is also increasing. Artifacts are bought from India at throwaway prices and later sold to Indians at higher prices. Law is a big hurdle here also. Exporting artifacts is not difficult but importing them is not easy. Even to bring Indian artifacts from abroad, one has to pay heavy taxes. In such a situation, the precious heritage of Indian arts is also becoming the heritage of foreign countries on a large scale. No one can do anything about it even if they want to. Intellectual property law protects the interests of art protection around the world, but its meaning varies at each level.

    The condition of laws related to art is such that many artists are still unaware of their rights. Take resale laws for example. Many times it happens that an art collector buys the artwork of a big artist at throwaway prices and later sells it at the desired price. Many artists may not even know that if their artwork is sold for more than Rs. 10,000, the artist has the right to receive up to 10 percent share in the resale of his artwork.

    In this era of globalization and rapidly growing market of art, there is a need that the actual imitation of art should also be discussed on a wide level under art education and training. Technically, while making artwork, artists should definitely take the initiative to do something so that they themselves can recognize the original copy of their artwork. Why don't art education institutions also teach about copyright laws related to copying of artworks? Once upon a time, considering the artworks of Rabindranath Tagore and AmritaShergill as national heritage, their export was banned under the Heritage and Art Treasures Act 1972, but this law has now become so old that it seems to have lost its relevance. In such a situation, it is also necessary to see the usefulness of the laws related to art in the current context and if necessary, necessary amendments and review should also be done. If this does not happen in time, the meaning of originality in art will change and it is also possible that you may not get to see all your art heritage in your country. When national art treasures are also increasingly becoming the adornment of art galleries abroad, then can't the future of art be predicted easily?