Folk art: Pocket-friendly local culture on canvas for your drawing room

Deeply rooted in Indian tradition and heritage, folk art is fast catching the fancy of both, the country's millennials and foreign expats

If you are looking for something trendy in drawing room aesthetics, you needn't go for the celebrated Indian names or the exotic. Folk art is slowly but surely emerging as the new 'in-thing' with its refreshing sense of connectedness to nature and local culture. And it isn't a burden on the wallet either.

Here is an art form that effectively depicts stories about ancient Indian tribes and communities on canvas and reinforces cultural identity and shared community values. The themes could vary from mythology to magic, celebration of mother earth to traditions of the yore to illustrations of daily mundane human activities such as fishing, farming, hunting, weddings and festivals and even progressive themes of social reform such as abolition of zamindari system, women empowerment and such like - all of this using natural colours and earthy materials. The custodians of folk art are generally local people who literally inherit the craft, the tales, the techniques from their ancestors -- a wisdom that is passed on from one generation to another.

Several galleries endorse this art form today. Gond art in particular has been gaining immense popularity both domestically and internationally, says Sharan Seth, founder Conferro auction house. Seth, who does a lot of folk and tribal art, says there is a demand for Madhubani, Patachitra, Gond art and Phad painting.

Folk versus tribal
 
Is tribal art the same as folk art? While folk art includes traditional art and tribal art, there is a fine line of demarcation between the two, says Anubhav Nath, Gallery Director of Ojas Art. He says tribal art is technically the kind that comes from any of the approximately 600 recognised tribes in India. Traditional art, on the other hand, is heritage craft that is not created by tribals. Says Nath, “This may be a geopolitically loaded statement but a Gond is recognised as a tribe, but not Madhubani.”

What makes folk art so coveted? For starters, you can pick up a piece for as little as Rs 5,000 and go up to Rs 50,000-70,000 for some pretty decent work. Then there are renowned artists such as Jangarh Singh Shyam (the Gond master) who is even selling at $20,000-30,000. By and large, however, folk art is in the realm of affordable and relatable art. The other reason folk art is catching on is that during the past five years, the ecosystem to promote it has evolved holistically.

Says Nath, “For any visual art category to be sustainable, one basically needs eight elements to work in tandem. These include the artists, galleries, dealers, collectors, auction houses, museums/institutions, curators and writers. For instance, the Indian contemporary art space went through this phase in the early 2000s and soon after people saw prices go up ten fold. The reason was there was an entire market that had built around it."

Nath emphasises that folk art, the default Indian aesthetic, is so relatable, that it is difficult to not like it, and many mainstream contemporary artists such as J Swaminathan draw inspiration from it. Because of its growth potential, folk art is here to stay, he adds.

Santosh Kumar Das, a Mithila artist from Bihar, created 'Krishna in Lotus flower' (left) using acrylic and ink on paper. His ink-on-paper 'Gajaraj II' (right) was created in 2012

The patrons and the artists

Interestingly, there is foreign interest in Indian traditional art. People who are spurring demand apart from Indian millennials are expats, embassy officials, and CEOs of multinational companies who value this genre more than old Indian collectors, say gallery owners.

This art form falls in the figurative category. As a collector of folk art, 33-year-old Manvi Datta Gupta says, “After all, an elephant is an elephant, but there are narrative forms that depict the ancient tales such as Phad painting, which illustrates the entire Hanuman Chalisa. Folk art has its own language and it definitely speaks to you.”

Who are the artists and what are they paid? According to art curator Pragati Agarwal of Art Tree, “Most artists are not marketing savvy and don't know the worth of their artworks. Therefore they are duped by people and sometimes, because of economic reasons, underprice their art. Most artists are taught by their parents or family members.”

Among the famous names dotting the folk art landscape are Jangarh Singh Shyam, the most celebrated Indian folk artists. A Gond master, his paintings feature tribal deities, animals, and nature in the traditional Gond style, with lines of coloured dots to make shapes and forms. Bhajju Shyam, a Padma Shri, is a contemporary Gond artist hailing from Pattangarh in Madhya Pradesh. Santosh Kumar Das is a well-known Mithila artist from Bihar who draws inspiration from Hindu mythology and iconography, incidents in recent Indian history and anecdotes from everyday life.

Siblings Mayur and Tushar Vayeda are Warli painters who hail from the tribe of the same name in Maharashtra. Kalam Patua is credited as being one of the painters who single-handedly revived the dying tradition of Kalighat painting. He is the one who introduced contemporary themes and subjects, moving away from conventional mythological themes in Kalighat painting. Padma Shree Baua Devi, spearheaded Madhubani painting and despite the modernisation in form and theme, Baua still prefers using natural colours in her works. Jivya Soma Mashe is one of the most widely recognised names of Warli art.His works today feature in major art collections and museums across the world.

Some of the best known tribal and traditional art forms

Madhubani: One of the most popular genre of Indian folk art, it is also called Mithila art and originated in the kingdom of Janak (Sita’s father in Ramayana) in Nepal and present day Bihar. It is practiced mostly by women and depicts Gods, flora and fauna.

Gond: The Gondi tribe in Madhya Pradish made coloured paintings using charcoal, cow dung, leaves and coloured soil. This art is made up of dots and lines and is characterised by a sense of belonging to nature.

Phad: Originating in Rajasthan, it is mainly a religious form of scroll painting that celebrates deeds of deities, with a running narrative of their lives or religious texts in vegetable colours.
 
Warli: As the name suggests, it is the work of the Warli tribes of the Western Ghats, The paintings are done on a red ochre or dark background while shapes such as circles, triangles and squares are white in colour. The artwork depicts daily activities such as hunting, fishing, festivals and such like.

Kalamkari: Coming from Andhra Pradesh, Kalamkari literally means ‘drawings with a pen’ and refers to block printed form of art as well as free-flowing art with a pen on fabric. It depicts everything from fauna and flora to epics such as Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Tanjore: From down South, Tanjore or Thanjavur painitings originated in 1600 AD. These square panel paintings in gold foil on wooden planks depict devotion to Gods, Goddesses and saints.

Cheriyal Scrolls: Originating in present day Telangana, this art depicted Puranas and epics and was an essential visual accompaniment for sages who wandered around singing and narrating the epics.

Kalighat: Originating in 19th century Bengal, this art was characterised by flawless strokes, brushwork and sought to raise awareness about social reforms.

Patachitra: A fifth century tradition that emerged in religious hubs like Puri and Konark, this cloth-based scroll painting from Orissa and West Bengal has paintings with sharp angular bold lines depicting epics, Gods and Goddesses.

Dos and Don'ts in selecting folk art

• Pay attention to clarity of the work as well as its detailing and crispness.
• Don't pick up a piece on a whim. Buy something that tugs at the heart and will be cherished for long.
• Make sure it's an original because a lot of prints have reached the market.
• The best place is to get from a curator or the artist directly.
• Every folk art has its distinct language - while Phad is about narrative, miniatures are more figurative and are typically portraits, while Madhubani and Warli are about daily life.
• Price is variable, starting at Rs 5,000 and going up to Rs 5 lakh, depending on the size and detailing of the piece, and the stature of the artist.