Passage -2
Though there is no doubt that commoditization of scroll paintings has allowed a certain economic security and entrepreneurial as well as artistic freedom on the flip side. It can be debated that this dynamic combination of commerce and market demand has led to a pandering to the market with a certain level of proliferation of repetitive art production. This is vitiating the nature of ‘original’, with the replication of themes, the simplification of art, and its ease of availability, lending itself to a lack of differentiation between the artworks.
This has slowly but surely separated the tradition from its original impulse. By valuing the product and not its purpose, it has cut the creative, social, and cultural underpinnings. The one fixed aspect in the past was that the art was inseparable from the narrative the one not to be cleaved from the other. There are many instances of this phenomenon, the Kaavad from its ritual telling, the puppets sold as objects, and the Phad evaluated as a painting. For the Patuas too, the transformative potential of the expanded domestic and international market has resulted in their Pats, like other narrative art forms increasingly sold as decorative items.
As the Patuas continue in an inexorable mediation with change, the question is what lies ahead. Without sounding simplistic or sophist, perhaps there are several routes to a future. And one of the answers to the future continues to lie in the cultural geography of Bengal that revels in its rootedness, regional myths, engagement with political and social happenings, celebration of the Bengali language through films, songs, literature, and the connectedness it gives Bangla speakers. With 60% of Bengal still located in its villages, the arts of the Patua have great potential as they draw strength from their historic past. Their proverbial adaptability to changing times has always held them in good stead.
The Patuas ability to compose, perform, paint, and transmit ideas to tell stories and simplify complex situations to Bangla speaking audiences, is a powerful form of teaching, learning and communication that I hope will continue to hold them in good stead. The advent of new and the continuing of traditional avenues may lead to a new future for the Patuas as they continue their work
and travels, grappling with their many worlds, multiple identities, and simultaneous modernities in these changing times. As a result of their historic past and the spectrum of spaces and avenues of potential growth paths, the Patuas proverbial adaptability to changing times and audiences has held them in good stead.
Perhaps the way forward could be to focus on not just the product as a saleable item, but as a part of the whole process, recognizing the social and cultural contexts of the eco-system that forms the very reason for the birth and evolution and creation of the narrative painting.
What are the multifaceted effects of the excessive commoditization of painting, as discussed in the passage?