Not For Sale
Graphite Drawing On Stonehenge Paper
8 x 10
I was having a discussion online today with this group I am a member of on Facebook. The question being debated was "Is UNTITLED paintings nothing but escapists?" Even though the question was badly written I think the author was asking if a piece is untitled is the artist trying to escape from having to explain their work? This is what the author wrote on facebook
"I have one big question in my mind from the day I came to know about a word called ‘untitled’ in art field. I have met a lot of artists and asked about it. This sounds very contemporary and fashionable and a stylish statement for artists. Or may be some artists knew it and deliberately kept it untitled just to see public’s reaction and interpretation of the art critics and art analysis. Some may adopt ‘untitled’ cause they want to be called contemporary. Some even just follow it because they do not want to explain what they have created. Some follow without even knowing whether they should call it untitled or give some title.Well when this ‘untitled ‘originated from? What is the reason every artists are inclined towards it? I have tried to know the reason. And for this I have interacted with almost more than 600 artists from 1994 till date and tried my level best to know the reason. All most everybody irrespective of age, place, style, country; they said same answer. I could not able to get a different answer from anyone. You must be thinking what must be that all important answer? Well friends nothing to be surprise, it’s the same old reason the y give, “I want the viewers to interpret my work in their own way. I do not want to show them the path to interpret and I do not want to restrict their thinking.”Sounds very logical and intellectual. Is not it? And that’s why not many people have raised question in spite of the fact that he/she don’t able to understand r interpret anything out of the so called ‘untitled’ paintings.But the real fact is very much different. Now the time has come to ask the artist to give a real answer and reason behind his/her art. Cause as per my analysis of almost more than 10,000 artists and more than 1, 00,000 art works in my life time, I feel ‘untitled’ paintings are nothing but the reflection of a confused mind and a mad man. When I say untitled art is not an art but a piece of confusion state of mind, I strongly give reason to it. Because I know already there are a lot of eyebrows are raising. But it is real fact.‘Untitled’ is nothing but a reflection of confused brain which do not why and what. To get acceptable of something one need a proper meaning, logic and acceptability and a story. But an untitled painting do not have, logic, not have meaning and the so called artists are explaining this situation and this is making the art world hollow from within. We need to awake.I feel if we do give a title to a work, then also we can not stop somewhere interpreting the meaning in a different way than the artist. It is very much understood that every person have different background, different culture, different upbringing and family values and lives in a different society ,which affects its way of thinking and interpretation. For example ‘INDIA’ is the title of the country we live in. For every body in world it’s called India. People from different countries come and visit India and every person have its own interpretation about India. Some say India: religious, some says India: colorful, some say India: corruption, some says India: full of culture, some says India: GOD’s place, some say India: country of snake charmers, some says India: global leader etc. So here we all know India have different meaning to different people as we can not stop others interpretation.In the same way every individual interpret an Untitled art in their own way. And if we give a title also it will not affect others mindset. In this way you are thinking the viewer is dumb, but in reality they are not. The are very much educated and aware now than before and it’s not easy to affect their thinking. On the other hand if the art work can able to create different meaning in spite of the title, then according to me the piece of art have so many dimensions and it is much more powerful and innovative as well as creative work. As it can able to make so many minds think and it can able to interact with so many different types of people. This is the real challenge and greater art to reach challenge and greater art to reach art as many people as possible. This is the need of the hour, not to be within one’s own self, but to interact with people and communicate. It is the duty of the artist too to work in this direction, not to confuse the people, but to give his/her point of view and try to express, feelings, mood, message and theme.To make it easy to understand the whole debate over not have untitled paintings, I would like to share something. You must have seen many times a person walking on a street or sitting on roadside and talking to own self? If you go close to him/her and try to understand what he/she is saying, you will find that the person is speaking some proper words which have meaning, but when you try to understand the whole sentences he is creating do not have any meaning. It seems the meaning may be ‘x’ or ‘y’ or may be ‘z’. But at the end you do not know what the person is trying to say. At the end you get confused and you come to know that, the person is a ‘MAD’. Here you must be thinking what is the relation between a mad man and and Untitled painting? But yes there is a big similarity and connection. The mad person is like the artists who keep the painting untitled. The words of the mad persons just like the different strokes, colors, forms, techniques an artists use to express something. But as in the case of Mad man’s sentences the paintings as a whole do not have any defined meaning nor have any logic. So as we call the man mad, we call the painting ‘untitled’. So ‘Untitled=MAD’. It is proved. Now you must be thinking what is wrong in it?Yes there is a big problem. The very fact ‘ARTISTS ARE MAD’ have a big problem. It’s a myth that ll artists are mad. But no artists can not be mad, but one has to have madness in plenty. There is a big difference between MAD and Madness. Mad is a person does not have sense, but an artists is a creator and he is called a representative of GOD to create and guide people. How can one mad person can create? To create and to innovate one has to have proper brain and intelligence. The bottom-line is artists are not Mad AT ALL. But they have madness towards creativity, innovation, beauty and skill.Hope I am able to answer and satisfy everybody regarding this all important myth. And to end with I must ask everybody, have you ever come across A country without title?A film without title?A city without title?A story without title?A play without title?A book without title?A person without title?So why painting without Title? Ashis PahiWAC"
I feel this is all hogwash. A piece of art is visual. It stands on its own merits. It does not need the artist to further define what they have already defined in creating it. A rose by any other name is still a rose. That is why i have titled my latest piece "UNTITLED". Please if anyone thinks I am not an artist and that this piece does not speak to the viewer because I have NOT titled it let me know.
