 Graffiti artists in India struggle due to the pandemic |
Kartikey Sharma another artist who is from Pune but has worked in Bangalore with collaboration with Sneha Chakraborty and wicked Broz.He says doing graffiti as a passion in India is not feasible because at the end of the day the artist has to earn money to put bread and butter on the table.He says Mural as a business is booming and very artist should concentrate on making it a good business because” the more free work we were doing the more the perception of the crowd (general people) was increasing that it is supposed to be free.
And right now I am not going to willingly paint walls anymore , I want either the government to either afford it or somebody to fund it.
Because it takes a lot of effort and paint, So yes i am not very big on socially driven drives.
The legal issue is if a local governing body allows street art such as graffiti or mural it is considered legal or otherwise it is deemed as vandalism of public property and the perpetrator or perpetrators are fined.
Shunnal another artist from Bangalore said that getting into graffiti art is not easy as it seems as the paint and spray cans are very expensive .He said that getting clients is a very tough process.The even tougher process is to get permission from BBMP so he asks the clients to get the permission cleared before he starts working.
Arun Kumar a lawyer based in Bangalore says that in India graffiti is a very punishable offence but there are no laws around it.”The rules and regulations are very ambiguous regarding Graffiti are very ambiguous” he added
The average cost of an spray paint can cost around 300 to 400 rupees and artists have to generally pay it out of their pockets.
He added that now things are changing as government bodies such as local administrative bodies of various metropolitian cities are hiring them to beautify the city.
Artists use art as a reflective mirror for the society but doing so comes at a price which is high.
