Rickshaw Art of Bangladesh | Photo: Maciej Dakowicz

Street art as a genre has a number of enthusiastic artists and patrons. However, Rickshaw Art, which is yet another popular art form that finds its expression on the streets, is not that well known. This unique form of art is what could be called “peoples’ art” and it combines within itself a number of elements including folklore, movie, political and commercial imagery and techniques.

Decorated Rikshaw | Photo: doc18

For those who are not aware, Rickshaws are traditional, non-motorized, eco-friendly vehicles that ply the roads in many parts of South-East Asia, especially India, China and Bangladesh. These rickshaws are used for traveling short distances. At the beginning, rickshaws were used only by the elite class of society. However, now it has become a common mode of transportation for the middle class.

In Bangladesh, the rickshaw pullers have to face stiff competition, as there are more than 600,000 rickshaws in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh alone. This means that the rickshaw drivers need to try their best to attract their customers, which they do with the help of the artwork on their rickshaws. If you like the art on the rickshaw, there is a very good chance that you will board it.

Since this kind of art needs to be extremely eye-catching, Rickshaw artists aim to decorate the vehicles with as much drama and color as they can put. The images that are painted on the rickshaws are both simple, as well as memorable. The images reflect the interests and the desires of the man or woman in the streets. For instance, religious themes, folk themes, wealth and power are common motifs of rickshaw art.

The rickshaw art is not a fine art form and cannot really be classified into a specific genre – it is a dynamic form, which reflects not only the interests of the common person, but also the entire process of globalization. For instance, you will find images on the rickshaws that show the fascination of people with Film stars, sports cars and foreign locations.

Artists decorating a rickshaw and a freshly decorated rickshaw with film motifs | Courtesy: www.artsricksha.com

Every inch of the rickshaw, especially the rickshaws of Bangladesh, is decorated with paintings, tassels, colorful plastic flowers sprouting from various corners, decorated handlebars and hood works. You will find signs

Decorated Rickshaw Head Cover | Photo: Jonathan Munshi

of the rickshaw artwork even on the footholds, seats and in the chassis. The backboard of the rickshaw is the largest blank canvas available on the rickshaw to the artist, and he expresses himself to his heart’s content on the backboard.

Compared to the colorful rickshaws of Bangladesh and India, the rickshaws of USA (also known as Pedicabs) are much mundane. They usually sport the carnival looks in their canopies and seldom carries any artwork.

Rickshaw art in Eastern India and Bangladesh is a unique manifestation of a long tradition of art and craft, which is a coalition of the old tradition of this part of India, as well as the contemporary life of the city. If you look carefully, the art will help you to get a deep insight into the present beliefs and desires of the masses. The best time to enjoy this art is during the rush hours in Dhaka, when a number of rickshaws play around.

A Pedicab (Rickshaw) in USA | Courtesy: bikeportland.org

Just enjoy the spectacular art form that will help you to gain a multi-faceted perspective into the society that the rickshaw art reflects.

Cartoon on a wall during General Elections in India

The election of the largest democracy of the world is famous for many reasons – one of the reasons is the election graffiti. The artists often consider these wall paintings during lections to be a creative expression. It is obvious that this art form gains its maximum prominence during the time of election. However, propagating through graffiti has been banned by the Election Commission of India.

Wall writing or graffiti dates back to the Greek and Roman times. With time, it has evolved to be an integral part of human civilization. Writing on walls is very cost-effective and since it an open forum, it attracts huge clientele. In India, wall writing is mainly used for the election purpose, in other countries it has been used for different purposes; however, mainly for Government oriented reasons. For example, in United Kingdom, in the middle years of the 20th century, graffiti played a pivotal role in the epic campaign against the nuclear disarmament. All over the country of England, in London, in towns and villages, there was only one thing that was predominant, the graffiti.

Painted walls tells stories of political loyalty | Photo: Carol Mitchell

In the European countries, also graffiti has time and again played a dominant role. In France, whether you go overground or down in a Metro, graffiti has always made its presence felt whether for or against Gertrude Stein, for or against existentialism, for or against the projected new labor laws and many more. Latin America has seen campaigning against Yanqui imperialism through graffiti. The most effective graffiti was seen on the walls of Dhaka, Bangladesh few years ago.

Calligraphic Election graffiti

India is caught in the fever of graffiti during the election. The wall writings have ranged from being statistical, argumentative, rhymes, slogans and cartoons. This is the most splendid way of bringing life to democracy. It is very common to use public space to thrust and counter-thrust on public issues.  In fact, graffiti can easily be considered the ideal method for election campaigning in a poor country. Election graffiti in India has been the livelihood for many artists, while some are involved in them as part time workers.

The graffiti artists working during the elections are usually Art students and are rarely political party workers. Often the same artist is engaged by different political parties.

"Make the candidate winner" ... a kind of canvas in a village of Madhya Pradesh, India during the State Assembly Election, 2008 | Photo: Sanjib Ganguly

However, the recent ban on graffiti, postcards, billboards in some states by the Election Commission have taken a toll on these artists. According to a graffiti artist, the modern technology printing have put a negative impact on this art form, many artists have left this profession. These days the flex boards are in use since it takes less time than graffiti and can be put up covering large areas. The flex boards can be put anywhere and needs less time, whereas in case of graffiti, artists would have to stay awaken late nights for working. The shortage of walls has also prompted to make use of flex boards.

Ganga Jamna released in 1961 and Kabhie Kabhie released in 1967 | Photo: aesthunter

One of the most interesting art forms, hand-painting of movie posters and billboards is losing its presence in India. Previously this used to be the living of many Indian artists, in fact the famous painter M.F. Hussain earned a living in the earlier part of his career through this. But with time, as technology making its mark everywhere, this art form is in its dying phase.

Mela released in 1948 and Jungle Mein Mangal released in 1972 | Photo: aesthunter

Now when you get everything at the click of a mouse, it will be difficult for you to believe that Indian film posters and billboards previously were hand painted. This is one art form, which is unique in its own way – it does not follow any western or any other conventional Indian art form and is probably one of the newest innovated forms springing up from a synthesis of different cultures. The styles and techniques of the Indian film Posters are taught in many art schools throughout the world.

Painting of South Indian Film Posters | Photo: Joseph Khakshouri

Other than these hand-paintings, lithography also played a dominant role in the Indian film posters and billboards. Thousands of lithographic posters were printed on cheap thin papers and were posted on the billboards and the walls. This lithographic printing process is still in use by the commercial printers all over the world.

Putting up posters and cutouts | Photo: Joseph Khakshouri

This process of hand painting of Indian film posters bloomed mainly in the Indian film industries of Chennai and Mumbai. Bright colors, gaudy highlights made the posters extremely attractive. The hand painting gave life to the posters and the billboards. The strong graphics and the exuberant colors are absent in today’s digitally printed posters. Uniformity and tastelessness, lacking individuality and directness is what most of the modern day Indian film posters lack.

Poster of Satyajit Ray's Bengali film Devi | Photo: Sridhar Chandupatla

The hand-painting of the Indian film posters were in vogue till the 1970s. The different combination of colors, highlighting and graphics of the different film posters flashed individual statement. Not only did the commercial Hindi movies, the hand-painted posters also found a place in the parallel Hindi movies of the time. The Bengali film industry which is considered to be the oldest Indian film industry was very much dependent on these hand-paintings and lithography. Most of the Bengali movies of the time, which included the parallel cinema of Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and others  had a significant role of the hand-painted and lithographed posters.

While the hand-painted and lithographed posters injected life to the Hindi and Bengali films, in the Chennai film industry, hand-paintings and lithography gave God-like stature to the actors. The building sized hand-painted billboards are still very familiar in the South Indian theaters. The mainstream South Indian movies mainly emphasize on action and lots of dancing sequences with dramatization of characters – all these are very prominent in the billboards.

Heroes and Sexy Women | Photo: Arti Sandhu

However, the electronic printing process is affecting this industry, but to remain in competition, the painter workers are selling their gigantic creation at a much lower rate than those of the electric printing process. These days’ hand-painted posters and billboards are replaced with the modern computer designed posters that are printed on Vinyl sheets. But, collectors worldwide are putting a lot of value on Indian film posters and regular exhibitions across the world are being held to showcase the creations of the masters of Film poster designing.

Ellora Caves, India | Photo: Oceansurf

Together with rich history, culture and heritage, the Indian sub-continent is boastful of her oldest and finest sculptures. India owes her first sculptures to the Indus Valley Civilization (200 -2500 BC). The sculptures of this civilization mainly bases on stone, terra cotta and bronze. However, India’s earliest prehistoric sculptures are found in stone, clay, ivory, copper and gold. From the Indus Valley Civilization to the various rulers who ruled India, sculptures depict a history of their own.

A pilgrim kneels at the feet of the colossal statue of Bahubali in Shravanabelagola in South India | Photo: Arul Baskaran

The Indian sculptures reflect contemporary social life, while the earliest sculptures depict the foreign influence, as time progressed and new civilizations awakened, different themes were depicted in the sculptures. The Hindu and the Jain religions found their way of expression through the sculptures in their temples the most. It has also been found that both these styles have often overlapped with each other. The height of Jain sculpture is evident in Jain sites like Palitana, Girnar and Mt. Abu. The colossal 60 feet high Jain monolithic statue of Bahubali situated at Shravanabelagola, Karnataka is also a fine example of the quality of Jain sculpture.

A statue of the Buddha at Sanchi | Photo: Vinod Sreedhar

The Mauryan Empire is known to have made an extraordinary contribution to the sculptures of the country. In an attempt to spread the Buddhist religion throughout the country, the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka built some 85,000 stupas, all of them having Buddhist teachings inscribed in it, in the 3rd century BC. Two of the most prominent examples of this sculpture are The Great Sanchi Stupa, which is forty-four feet high with carved gateways that illustrate Buddhist legends, and The Ashokan Pillar situated at Sarnath in Madhya Pradesh.

With the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries AD, new trends began to dominate the Indian sculptures. Hindu deities of Lord Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, the Sun God, and Goddess Durga were mainly crafted because during that time, Hinduism became the prime religion of the country. Once such example is the huge sculpture of Lord Shiva incarnated as wild boar and saving mother earth is being featured The Udaigiri Caves in Madhya Pradesh. The twenty-foot high sculpture of Lord Shiva with three heads depicting fierce, feminine, and meditative state in The Elephanta Caves in Maharashtra is one remarkable example of cave architecture of India.

Erotic sculptures at Khajuraho | Photo: olopez

The Khajuraho Temples of the tenth to eleventh century AD, discovered by the archaeologists have sculptures depicting Gods, Goddesses and animals. These sculptures are mainly made of sandstone and symbolize the undying bond between the male and the female. The sculptures at the Kajuraho mainly symbolize sensuousness, eroticism and aesthetics. 

Sculptures from the Sun Temple of Konark and other temples of Bhubaneshwar | Photo: Anindya Karmakar

The other examples of Indian sculptures, which show the mastery over the art, are the famous Buddhist marvels, The Ajanta and Ellora Temples, The Sun Temple of Konark, The Arjuna’s Penance, the temples of Kanchipuram, Madurai, Rameshwaram, Amravati, Nagarjunakonda and Varanasi. The sculptures of The Ajanta and Ellora Temples are made out of rocks and cliffs and the collection mainly consist of animals and Gods, ancient life paintings and Buddhist fables.

Mathura, the fabled birthplace of Lord Kirshna is also famous for sculptures of the Kushan era. Most of the Indian sculptures are stored in museums. The sculptures of India mainly bases on the carvings of nature, objects, Gods and Goddesses and animals.

Art with Tiffin Boxes | Photo: Humayunn N A Peerzaada

‘Kala Ghoda’ refers to a black horse in a statue of King Edward VIII mounted on it. The statue is long gone and the erstwhile Esplanade Road, Bombay is now Mahatma Gandhi Road, Mumbai.

The crescent shaped area flaunts numerous museums, art galleries, educational institutions, boutiques and restaurants. The heritage buildings of this place are the showstoppers. There are more than 100,000 square-feet of indoor gallery space, huge outdoor pavement galleries and exhibition space making the place an awesome Urban Museum. There are lecture halls, convocation halls and conference facilities, which give the place a cultural atmosphere. Throughout the year, you will find plenty of cultural activities taking place in this area. From artists to food exponents, fashion designers and admirers of architecture, everyone flocks to this place. With round-the-year arts festival and fairs, ‘Kala Ghoda’ has evolved as the cultural hub of the city.

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is one of the most popular events of the Mumbai cultural calendar. It is held annually in late January or early February. Organized by the Kala Ghoda Association, the festival was first started in 1999. Over the years, the festival has become immense popular and increased in stature.

Custom made furniture and Interior accessories | Photo: Humayunn N A Peerzaada

A team of curator handles the sub festivals that feature visual arts, dance, music, theater, cinema, literature, lectures, seminars and workshops, heritage walks, special children events along with a lively street festival.

Installation at Kala Ghoda Art Festival | Photo: Humayunn N A Peerzaada

You will not need to buy any entry ticket for the events – the main venues of the events are the Jehangir Art Gallery, The National Gallery of Modern Art, the David Sassoon Library, Max Mueller Bhavan, Elphinstone College, the K R Cama Institute, the M C Ghia Hall, and Rampart Row street area. What will surprise you the most is the fact that the whole of the Rampart Row area is turned into a street fair with food stalls, sketchers sketching instant portraits, artisans selling their creations, street art fixing and many more.

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival has helped other festivals like the Mumbai Festival, the Celebrate Bandra Festival and the Kitab Festival to spring up.

Prehistoric rock art at Bhim Betka Caves | Photo: Abhijeet Dutta

An archaeological site and a World Heritage Site, the Bhimbetka rock shelters provide an exhibition of the earliest art of human life. The heritage site boasts Stone Age rock paintings, which are nearly 9000 years old. The name Bhim betka is derived from the mythological association of the place with Bhima, one of the Pandavas.

Location

The Rock Shelters Of Bhimbetka is located 45 kilometers of Bhopal at the southern age of Vindhyachal Hills. The place is rich with natural shelters, rich forest flora and fauna.

The Caves at Bhimbhetka | Photo: Arijit Banik

History

In 1888, Bhim Betka was first mentioned as a Buddhist site. Later V.S Wakankar discovered some rock formations, alike Spain and France. After several visits with a team of archaeologists, he discovered traces of prehistoric rock. Since then nearly 700 shelters have been identified. Further studies revealed a continuous sequence of Stone Age cultures.

Surprisingly, time has not been able to cast its spell on the paints as they remain as it is, without giving any signs of fading. Archaeologists have traced the recorded scenes of everyday lives of people who lived in the rocks. Remarkably, the paintings will present you the whole spectrum of time, right from Paleolithic to Medieval period. The paintings of everyday life have helped the archaeologists in tracking the progression of the human life throughout the ages.

Animal paintings at Bhimbhetka caves, India | Swapnesh B

The drawings and the paintings can be classified under seven different periods.

Period 1 (Upper Paleolithic)

This period is mainly marked by linear representations of huge figures of animals such as bison, tigers and rhinoceroses in green and dark red.

Period II (Mesolithic)

This period has comparatively small but stylized figures. It shows linear decorations in the body. The animals, human figures and hunting scenes provide an idea that weapons like barbed spears, pointed sticks, bows and arrows were used. The paintings from this period also depict communal dances, birds, musical instruments, mother and child, pregnant women etc.

Period III (Chalcolithic)

The paintings of this period resemble reveal agricultural activities and exchange of goods.

Period IV & V (Early historic)

Having a schematic and decorative style, the figures of this period were dominated by colors like red, white and yellow. The paintings also reveal facts like association of riders and the existence of scripts. You would also notice figures of yakshas, tree gods and magical sky chariots.

Period VI & VIl (Medieval)

You would notice more geometric, linear and schematic shapes in the paintings of this period. Cave dwellers used Manganese Haematite, soft red stone and wooden coal to make the colors. In addition to that, animal fats and extracts were used in mixtures. One of the main reasons for the colors to remain intact for so long is the chemical reaction resulting from the presence of oxide on the rock surface.

"The Window" at the cave site of Bhim Bhetka | Photo: Sendhil Solai

The cave dwellers used pieces of fibrous plants to make brushes and natural red and white pigments for their work. Archaeologists also speculate the oldest paintings to be nearly 12,000 years old. Truly enough the cave paintings of Bhim Betka represent the social evolution of mankind.

The Highway Princess | Photo: spearhawk

Truck drivers in Pakistan treat their trucks like true princesses. They may not get the same treatment from the under-maintained roads but decorated with a riot of colors, the trucks reflect a striking aspect of landscape and colorful society of Pakistan. Countries like Afghanistan, Indonesia and other countries in Central and South America may follow the same trend but the prevalence of the practice makes it unique in Pakistan. Moreover, you would be surprised to know that the decoration costs of trucks may reach as much as US$ 4000 or more without any direct economic benefit in return.

Truck Calligraphy | Photo: Umair Mohsin

Such extravagant decoration reflects religious, sentimental and emotional worldviews of the truck driver. As a major means of cargo transportation throughout Pakistan, the trucks of Pakistan also represent a form of society’s art.

There are about 5 basic schools of truck design in Pakistan. You will observe an extremely dynamic design with modifying styles and motifs from each of these schools.

Rawalpindi: It is the most popular school of all and is responsible for the most number of truck build ups. You will notice ornate metal cowling above the windshield and extensive use of plastic appliqué in the decoration of the trucks, built here.

Swat: The place in the northwest of the country will represent you a unique carved wooden doors and limited use of plastic and hammered metalwork.

Peshawar: The city close to Khyber Pass represents a designing pattern, which is somewhere in between and have the touches of both the Rawalpindi and Swat schools.

Baluchistan: The Baluchi school presents you the most ornate design. They mostly utilize chrome extensions to their bumpers. Moreover, their decoration bears mostly geometric patterns.

Intricate Metalwork | Photo: Ashkal

You may find Kaa’ba in Makkah and Prophet’s mosque in Madinah as the most common religious symbol appearing on trucks but there are also some other themes which can be observed. Some of the most widely used themes are:

- Idealized elements of life, which include romanticized villages, landscapes and beautiful women
- Modern life elements such as pictures of political figures or patriotic symbols
- Talismanic and fetish objects like horns, yak tails and clothing items
- Talismanically or religiously loaded symbols like eyes and fish
- Religious symbols and images like Buraq

Idealized elements of life | Photo: Abro

Signifance of the design

The designing is deliberately done to reflect the ongoing state of the driver as the side panels are used to reflect perceived home to signify the driver, who hardly stays at home in a social geography. The truck is the driver’s home, away from home and his means of livelihood. The decoration includes various bridal symbols, which connect to safety and the truck, and the trucker’s behavior is dominated by the livelihood. The symbols may not reflect a religious message but most of them are reflections of the religious notion of the individual’s place.