The art of our times

| Read time: 6 minute(s)

Art World
By Kinjal Trivedi

So have your parents told you about how when they were kids they had a radio, or VCR player... or even a television in their house for the first time? Or how they would run to their neighbours to catch a glimpse of what images or sounds that machine was transmitting? It sounds so outdated for us when our parents say, “in our time we had no cellphone or television to entertain us!” Yes! That's true. Our parents grew up playing outside in open spaces where they would run, play with clay, get their hands dirty like cavemen almost and make figurines. Or even play cricket or soccer in the rain and break bones… and eventually laugh about it. So, technology was introduced in mid 1900s in India. This is when rocks, clay, canvas, marble statues, stained glass were replaced by digital images. Sound was transmitted through a machine that sent radio waves across to deliver news, music and believe me it was extremely fascinating! This introduction of ‘new age’ technology was so very exciting that people started to express and receive information across countries through machines in no time. This is the Contemporary Art phase. Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck were introduced by Walt Disney to entertain children. Pop Art was introduced by Andy Warhol to create Campbell products to pass a message that these soup cans were a good source of food and nutrition. Marketing through images was a big thing back then. Because the population of the world was increasing, technology was binding people closer to each other. This was the best opportunity for companies to start an ‘advertising agency’ that would hire graphic designers. Simple format and loud bold fonts in serif became popular. Newspapers were full of drawings and television started transmitting black and white images which were eventually replaced with colours. As a baby I remember our families used to sit together and watch Laurel Hardy and Charlie Chaplin together. Michael Jackson was our favourite! Contemporary Art world let us know what was happening in the western and eastern countries while sitting in our living rooms in India. Globalisation was personified. Since then, with 15 years time, technology grew so fast that we all have our smart phones and have images and connectivity at our fingertips. The era our parents lived in was by far the fastest transition between the old and the new world. This brings us to the end of Western Art Era series. Until now in the blogs we learn that as humans, we started drawing on rocks, make marble statues, paint on ceilings and walls of iconic structures, to dream, to use minerals from under the earth to create stained glass, go internal with our emotions and portray our subconscious feelings and unleash our innermost thoughts on larger than life canvas. We have so much to learn from our ancestors and have the responsibility to bring it forward. Are we ready to create a name for ourselves in the world? Oh yes! Campbell Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe Pop Art by Andy Warhol One of the First Black and White Televisions One of the first Radios in India

So have your parents told you about how when they were kids they had a radio, or VCR player… or even a television in their house for the first time? Or how they would run to their neighbours to catch a glimpse of what images or sounds that machine was transmitting?

It sounds so outdated for us when our parents say, “in our time we had no cellphone or television to entertain us!”

Yes! That’s true. Our parents grew up playing outside in open spaces where they would run, play with clay, get their hands dirty like cavemen almost and make figurines. Or even play cricket or soccer in the rain and break bones… and eventually laugh about it.

So, technology was introduced in mid 1900s in India. This is when rocks, clay, canvas, marble statues, stained glass were replaced by digital images. Sound was transmitted through a machine that sent radio waves across to deliver news, music and believe me it was extremely fascinating! This introduction of ‘new age’ technology was so very exciting that people started to express and receive information across countries through machines in no time.

This is the Contemporary Art phase.

Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck were introduced by Walt Disney to entertain children. Pop Art was introduced by Andy Warhol to create Campbell products to pass a message that these soup cans were a good source of food and nutrition.

Marketing through images was a big thing back then. Because the population of the world was increasing, technology was binding people closer to each other. This was the best opportunity for companies to start an ‘advertising agency’ that would hire graphic designers.

Simple format and loud bold fonts in serif became popular. Newspapers were full of drawings and television started transmitting black and white images which were eventually replaced with colours.

As a baby I remember our families used to sit together and watch Laurel Hardy and Charlie Chaplin together. Michael Jackson was our favourite!

Contemporary Art world let us know what was happening in the western and eastern countries while sitting in our living rooms in India. Globalisation was personified.

Since then, with 15 years time, technology grew so fast that we all have our smart phones and have images and connectivity at our fingertips.

The era our parents lived in was by far the fastest transition between the old and the new world.

This brings us to the end of Western Art Era series.

Until now in the blogs we learn that as humans, we started drawing on rocks, make marble statues, paint on ceilings and walls of iconic structures, to dream, to use minerals from under the earth to create stained glass, go internal with our emotions and portray our subconscious feelings and unleash our innermost thoughts on larger than life canvas. 

We have so much to learn from our ancestors and have the responsibility to bring it forward.

Are we ready to create a name for ourselves in the world?

Oh yes!

Campbell Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe Pop Art by Andy Warhol
One of the First Black and White Televisions
One of the first Radios in India

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