The art and the artist

An interview with Bhagyashree, a budding traditional and digital artist

- Khushi Gautam

From the comfort of her home, Bhagyashree has created some amazing artwork. Although she leans more towards digital art, her work in traditional style is never lacking. Born in Ranchi, Jharkhand, Bhagyashree is a 22-year-old established visual artist with over four years of professional experience.

During this interview, the conversation strayed towards the more philosophical part of being an artist. At such a young age, she has experienced many interesting aspects of this profession about which she went into detail in the interview.

The first thing I would like to ask you is, it is said that life imitates art or is it art imitates life in your case?

I think it's a never-ending loop where life keeps imitating art and art keeps imitating life. Because as I was growing up, a lot of my life has been moved and inspired by art. No matter whether it be straight-up paintings or it will be music or movies. We pick up a lot of our personalities and reactions and the way we carry ourselves from that. Ultimately, whatever we gather and whatever actions that we do take, it pushes us to express ourselves in a way which comes out in the form of art. Whether life forces you to write poetry with some event or it pushes you to the point you can't help but make a painting or things like that. So, I think it's a never-ending loop. And art is inescapable. No matter who you are, no matter where you are, art will find a way to get to you.

What medium of art has suited you best?

I think for me, the medium that has suited me the best is acrylics. Although I do dabble a lot in digital art, and it is comparatively convenient and more portable but acrylic is something that when I do it, I completely lose myself into it. Because it's not just a screen, and the option of undoing or not is left up to you, it's also with how much force you use the brush and how fast or how slow you're doing it. The flow (amount) of water can sometimes make the painting itself. You add a lot of water, different results are going to come out. If you have less water, different results are going to come out. You have to mix your colours. And I think that's a very beautiful relationship where sometimes you just pour a lot more black than you need, and it would make a darker hue than it needs to be. Well, that adds to the painting. Those are subconscious artistic additions to whatever artwork you’re making. So, acrylic would be it for me.

With time, has it become easier for people to choose art as a profession?

Definitely. Art has become a much easier profession to dabble into. And, well, if I can be a jackass and just say that, people who don't know what to do with their lives often come into the field of art. They think that it is going to be an easy escape from whatever real practical studies they have got to do out there. And that's why my classroom was often made a very uninspiring environment to make artwork in. But as convenient as it has become, because people have become more open-minded and there have been more resources, I don't think they often turn out to be actual real professionals in art. Ultimately, they're not able to carry it forward after the studies. So essentially, what does it say? It just says that in the past, or whether it be right now, even if pursuing art has become more convenient financially and physically, being an artist has always been of the same degree of difficulty. If you're not all for it, if you don't completely submerge your life into it, I don't think there's any other way to become an artist other than letting it consume you. And very few people let themselves be consumed by art. So, I think that degree remains the same. It calls for a very poetic and straightforward answer, but I think this is the reality of it.

I can’t help but ask, you’ve grown up in an age where technology was relatively new. How has your art grown with that?

Well, technology was one of the things that made me realize that art is something pursuable for real. It's not something that I just do in my father's extra notepads with the extra set of pens that he has, just because I have a constant habit of letting my imagination out some way or the other. I realized that I could make (a career) for a living. And that was because of technology. That means it did connect me to the whole world and a place from where I come from. I didn't know it was a possibility, a sustainable possibility in the least. Even when I was actively pursuing it, even when I had to go to college, and I didn't know that it could be something sustainable that I would be getting returns from it. But it turns out I can. And what helped me in doing that is because I invested a lot of time in teaching myself. And when I didn't have a teacher or somebody to guide me through it, technology was there, and I taught myself through it. And I now have a lot of tips and tricks and ways of doing it. And I found my style. And it is all because of technology. Because no matter what was there or not, technology was. And ultimately it became an outlet for my art as well, where I could put my work out there. So, I think technology aids a lot. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known about the 100 billion possibilities (in art). Forget about the possibilities, I wouldn't have even known that I wanted to be an artist, to begin with. So, there are disadvantages and perks to everything, but it depends on the way you choose to use it. And I think technology has had a huge positive impact on my art.

Art takes a certain degree of vulnerability. Has it affected your personality in a significant way?

Of course, it has. I wouldn't say that I would be the person I am without pursuing art so actively. As I have previously mentioned, art is a part of everybody's life, whether they realize it or not, or whether they want it to be or not. It's always a subconscious response. Art is always there. But choosing to make it a part of my daily life activities and putting the most amount of focus from my emotional, physical and every sense of self on it has majorly affected my life. Because I realized that I don't have to say everything. I could put it into my art because I'm really not good with words and otherwise it would have left me in a very frustrated space. But it saved me from that. And other than that, it gives me a sense of self. It makes me feel fulfilled within who I am. Because if I wouldn't be doing this, I think there would have been a huge void in my life where I would be constantly questioning whether what I'm doing is right or not and whether I'm happy or not. At least here, even if those questions come, I know how to respect that better. Rather than being in a more practical profession where I would have to deal with numbers and Excel sheets, here I know the value of emotions and vulnerability and humanity and all the other little things that hold so much more beauty than our regular eyes would have otherwise been able to see. So, I think it's an inseparable part of my personality relief.