First gallery in the city asked me to leave out the gods. Did you ever change your work for a show?
Namaste to all ji. I am Ramesh, Mithila painter from Madhubani, Bihar. My first time sending work to a gallery outside was maybe twelve years back, in Delhi. A kind man there liked the painting but he said, Ramesh ji, the fish and peacock are fine, but the deity figures you can remove, it will sell better to that crowd. I thought for many days. In the end I did not remove. That painting came back to me and it is still hanging in my house, and I am not sorry.
But I want to ask honestly, because I am still learning these things. When a gallery asked you to change something in your work, did you do it? And how did you decide? Please tell me your story, small or big, I would like to hear. Some of you may have changed and it was good for you, that also tell, no judgement here.
3
4commentsSaveFollow threadShare
Ramesh, that painting still hanging in your house says more than the sale would have. The deity figures are the painting, no? Take them out and you have decoration, and decoration is everywhere already.
I have had smaller version of this. A shop wanted my wonky cups "straightened" so they would stack nice in the display. I did it for one batch and hated every one of them, they came out dead, like the clay was bored. Never again. The pieces that lean are the ones people pick up and turn over in their hands, so.
Twelve years and you still stand by it, that is the answer to your own question I think.
The clay was bored. That's it exactly, ji. I had a run of work once where a gallery wanted my torn paper edges "cleaned up" and I said no, and honestly the no felt better than the show would have. The tear is where the thing breathes.
Anyway. Coffee's cold, I should go make something.
Arre, the torn edge, yes ji. Paper which is cut clean looks like it is waiting for a frame to give it life. The tear is already alive. My mother used to say the same of the brush line, if it is too perfect it is only showing off.
You said the no felt better than the show would have. That I understand fully. The show is for some months, the no stays with you quietly for years, and it never troubles you at night.
Go, make your coffee fresh and your cups crooked. One day I would like to see that work with the torn edges.
Your cups that lean, that is the whole thing, ji. "The clay was bored" - I am laughing and also feeling it. When we paint without the meaning the hand also knows, it becomes only labour.
You are right, take away the deity and what is left is only pattern. Beautiful maybe, but no one is inside it. The fish and peacock carry the story, but the god is the reason for the story. Twelve years back I could not explain this so nicely to that gentleman in Delhi. He was not a bad man, he was thinking of his buyers, and I was thinking of my mother's hand in mine when she taught me the line. Two different worlds, no? Some things cannot be straightened and still be alive.
Thank you for saying it better than I did. 🙏