Art moves online during the pandemic
Aarthi N
Due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country,
various artists have taken this lockdown as an opportunity to
showcase their artistic works online in social media platforms like Instagram,
Facebook and others and stay connected with their audience and
customers.
Since the nationwide lockdown began on March 24, professional artists
as well as amateurs have been sharing their works online grabbing a
huge number of audiences to watch their work.
Various celebrities including Taylor Swift, Oprah
Winfrey, Lady Gaga, among others performed online from their homes in a
two-hour concert named “One World: Together at Home” on April 20 in support of
frontline workers battling coronavirus pandemic which was watched by almost 21
million Americans.
Also, Theatre Nisha has been having a play
reading sessions via zoom every evening to keep their in-house actors and
others in tune with the genre.
Anusha G, a microbiology student who does
customised and commissioned artwork for her followers said: “I used to draw
during my free time, mostly during holidays. Due to this lockdown, and with no
college to attend, I have the whole time to draw and sketch. Instagram became
the right platform to post my works and there are many who have been asking me
to do commissioned work for them.”
She added: “I do portraits as commissioned
work. I charge between Rs 300 to Rs 500. This lockdown has given me the time to
make my passion into a business and I am really enjoying doing it.”
Ashwath A, a final year engineering student
who’s been doing digital painting for the past four years shared that books are
his inspiration to make art. “I learnt digital painting on my own because I
wanted to find something that interests me other than studies. So after my
class 12, I started making paintings by taking inspiration from the books that
I read.”
About the lockdown and his paintings, he said:
“I have so much time to read as well as try new kinds of paintings. A lot of my
friends wanted me to do wall posters for them and that’s when I thought of
doing commissioned work. And definitely, social media has helped me improve a
lot over these years. I read comments and take suggestions from people to
decide what to do next.”
Different artists from a stand-up comedian,
drawing artist to theatre performer, everyone is using social media platforms
to keep alive what they love doing. They also interact with their followers to
know what they want to see them do next.
A lot of artists who are good at drawing and
painting have found this digital platform to not just showcase their talent but
also earn by selling their artworks.
Meena Sri, a graduate, said that she
loves buying wallpapers, sketches, and home décor paintings online. “I have
become very fond of these artists' pages recently on Instagram and during this
lockdown, they are coming up with different ideas and thoughts which make me
want to buy them. The ones I follow and buy from are mostly youngsters like me
and what they do inspires me,” she said.
A few artists even do “How to do” classes
online for his or her followers to learn during this lockdown.
About the making or doing videos, she added:
“A few of them have live sessions and a few others have interactive sessions
in Instagram and they explain quite well to tell the techniques that
they use or have learnt recently. It’s fun to interest them as we get ideas
too.”
A news report by The Quint on April 23 informs
the readers about how the artists are reflecting the pandemic through their artworks
and how covid-19 has influenced them.
Another article on Indian artists during this
pandemic by Media
India on June 11
mentions how the internet has benefitted artists doing digital art.
aarthinagesh@gmail.com
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