These Artists of Docuseries "Mastery" are Leaving their Imprint on Time with their Art Works

There are seven distinctive art forms and together they form a confluence of beautiful portraits. These portraits are painted by the artists who have mastered these crafts and such is a series on Disney Plus Hotstar titled "Mastery - Journey of Excellence" by Stonex India - a marble company that talks about these seven art forms and artists who have aced them with their excellence. We interacted with the artists from various backgrounds featured in this series to know what goes beyond being an artist. 

The journey of excellence for every artist starts with a little bit of dwindling. Sometimes it’s a calculated step, sometimes it's a leap of faith. “My journey started with an intention to conserve nature and talk about issues that need attention, sooner than later. I thought instead of actions and words, art would be a great medium to pan them out as it has always been a silent warrior for many, says Vibha Galhotra, a visual artist and environmentalist. 

Vibha had a vision in place to start her journey of art but Sandeep Narayan, a Carnatic music vocalist had a well-settled life in America, which he left and returned to Chennai to pursue music as his career. This is a kind of decision where the phrase “leap of faith” comes into the picture. “People mocked me for leaving a good life and returning to India to promote a traditional form of music, and this made me question myself,” says the singer. "But when you overcome those thoughts, is when you win half of the battle," the artist continues. With all this going on, Narayan had only one thing in mind, to promote Carnatic music, be it through innovative ways by fusing it with rap and modern music or making shorter versions of traditional songs. 

Similarly, Subodh Kerkar, a doctor turned sculptor and painter had his journey drawn from a formal degree to conceptual art. He was practising as a doctor in Goa but was bored by his mundane life. Taking inspiration from the fisherman and the waves on the beach he decided to give up his medicine and take up art. His work is a reflection of his approach to various social constructs and problems, and at the same time, it's an acute reflection of Goa and its people. He feels, that “skill is not art,” because art is beyond everything and that is what his visual paintings and structures portray. 

Where Subhodh finds art beyond everything, sculptor and artist Benitha Perciyal finds art in everything. She feels everything has art in itself. To hold strong to her philosophy, she truly finds art in anything and everything by making structures from things that normal people consider waste. “I feel, even after a thing is discarded it still holds a functionality which changes with time but never perishes. So my art starts, where people feel the work of a particular material has ended," says Benitha. For her things don’t die with time, they just evolve with their purposes just like art.

An Imprint on Time 

The culminating words, art and time go so well with each other. As Subodh mentions, “Art pauses time for me, so that I can leave an imprint through my craft.” This sparks a discussion of leaving an imprint on time with your art to be remembered by many. For Priya Malik, a spoken word poet leaving an imprint means letting her work speak for her and be remembered by a few people who value it. Recalling one such incident when she was tagged in an Instagram story, she says, “A teacher from a school shared a video of a student practising my poem to recite in a school competition. Watching this I was literally into tears and moments like these make you feel that you have worked on things that can be remembered, even if they are in the tinest of forms."  

When talking about leaving an imprint on time, people mostly associate it with a long-term effect on someone's mind but for Lekha Washington who is an actress, model and artist, in this world where everybody is living either in the past or future, bringing someone straight into the present with the art piece you are performing is leaving an imprint.  

For all these artists creating an impact through their pieces of art is as good as breathing for some human being. Where staying true to themselves, to their art and to their audience comes as an unsaid thing, they try to be authentic. Priya says, “Since I talk about various societal and personal issues, I make sure I only write about the incidents or issues that I have faced so that I can be genuine about the topic.” For Vibha, it is nature that inspires her and she wants to create a harmony between nature and humans through her work. If she wants to discuss some environmental issue, she delves deep into it, makes sure her research is accurate and then only starts working on the model that can speak for her and for the motherland. Similarly, Subodh feels an artist is a receptor, sensor and transmitter of ideas in society and that is what he tries to inculcate in his art. 

All in all nature, society and the spirit within inspire any artist as they are in a constant race of learning even though people consider them as masters. "So mastery and mastering something is not the same," Sandeep says. “Mastery is a constant desire to learn and get better at what you are doing because if you master something, then you will no longer pursue it,” adds the musician. There is a constant strive for more and mastery is always a work of progress. An avid follower of Gandhian principles, Subodh culminates by quoting Mahatma Gandhi, "Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever.”