What Makes Art Good: The Curious Case of the Cult of Sandeep
Once during my first year in Art School we had an assignment that split us into groups of four or five. Each of the groups was given a question to answer among themselves and present the case to the class. Our group was given the seemingly simple question:
"What makes art good?"
Almost immediately we were fighting with each other, determined to reach a common ground that wasn't really possible. I became rather rebellious to the whole thing, and later that night when we were each excused with our homework assignment, I wrote absolutely nothing. Our self-appointed leader of the group, a bossy 19 year old girl who was convinced she already knew everything, gave us her answer as gospel and demanded each of us form talking points under her umbrella explanation for our presentation. I stood quietly and said nothing again.
When it came time to present our answer to "What makes art good?" Each member stumbled through his or her definitions of good art. Our leader, showing samples of her own work, very passionately spoke of "craftsmanship." She showed a collage of her's elegantly fitted onto mat board, and in contrast a crumpled figure drawing with charcoal smudging and tears. She held the figure drawing up and said:
"This can never be good art."
When it came to my turn I said, "I'm sorry I disagree with you." I prefer that figure drawing to your collage. Both are lovely, but the drawing has more life to me. And that disagreement that we have, that passion that drives you to create what you define as good art, that's what makes art so good. The question we were given, it's a really fantastic one, but it doesn't have a right answer, because it's all relevant. What makes art good to me is different than what makes art good to you. You may see a photo realist oil painting and say "My God, this is the greatest work I've ever seen." While I may see an abandoned sketchbook thrown away and think "This is life, so this is art." It's that yearning we feel to make something, and the need to understand why that makes art what it is... an expression. I don't believe it must always be a beautiful one.
Neither of us were wrong and it spurred a discussion the teacher was hoping for. The class was divided on either side of thinking, and that's when I first learned there are truly two types of artists; and both are wonderful.
Sandeep Shinde
Sandeep Shinde is a 30 year old artist from Mumbai India. He first popped upon my radar in a Facebook group I joined called "Artists Trying to Make a Living Creating Art."
The group has close to 60,000 members from all walks of life. Scrolling through you can see all variants of skill levels and status. Being that it is the Internet however, what began as a place meant for encouragement and learning, quickly turned into a group of bullying and endless self promotion. That is not to say that all posts and members just spend the day 'trolling' one another, but it is definitely something I see quite a bit more than when I first joined. The brunt of much of this was Sandeep, the reason however may surprise you.
The first post I saw was a ballpoint pen drawing of a monster. Normally I would've probably kept scrolling, but there was just something about this one that drew me in.
The naivety and crass nature of the lines shows remarkable feeling.
The craftsmanship of Sandeep's work was not the main criticism his peers were offering, but instead his pricing.
It goes on, and gets much worse on other posts. However from the beginning there are those that stand up for him. Through it all Sandeep remains focused and simply replies:
Where most would start to question themselves, Sandeep does the opposite and his prices began to rise rapidly.
The controversy consumed members of the page, and once again, artists were divided. Some thought it all to be just an elaborate stunt to garner attention. Other's thought maybe it was a mis-translation.
While some resorted to mockery....
Others found humor in hatred...
In the meantime, Sandeep was already working on his next big movement. Nail Polish.
There was the usual backlash...
Then something miraculous happened....
It worked.
Sandeep had established himself as an artist. He built himself quite a following, including a group of his own.
"The Cult of Sandeep" was a place for artists who were tired of standing up for others like Sandeep to the bossy group leaders saying 'this can never be good art.' Sandeep Shinde had started a movement. He was starting to inspire other artists.
The group "The Cult of Sandeep" quickly gained followers and fans. The entire spectacle began to bring people joy and laughter remembering critics of their own.
Conclusion
So what is Sandeep? Is he a brilliant mastermind performance artist waiting to take the world by storm? Is he out for world domination? Does he believe making art is some sort of 'get rich quick' scheme? Or is he merely an artist who believes in himself?
The truth is that none of that actually matters. It doesn't matter whether you or I like his art, or believe in him as an artist. It doesn't matter why he paints with nail polish, or avoids drawing faces.
What matters is that for a brief moment in our vast community of online artists and over saturated stimuli, one person made us all stop and ask a question we don't take a lot of time answering any more... "What makes art good?" Weather or not we come to the same answers or disagree, one thing is for certain, we were unified in asking. Perhaps that is Sandeep's greatest work of all.
*Disclaimer, these pictures are not in exact chronological order, but in the order in which I saw them and found them relevant to the article. All accounts discussed in this article are strictly opinion based.
