If Michelangelo were a young man today

I am not a big newspaper reader. Like most people I skim through the headlines and if something catches my attention I do a quick scan and then re-read if its really worth it. So when an article in the "Mumbai Times" promised to tell me who is the artist behind the graceful statue at Shirdi ( a bit of an unusual trivia), I decided to give it a read. The article was average but what really caught my attention were these lines “Most of the lucrative big statue orders are given to experienced sculptors who have a monopoly in the market. The best option for new struggling sculptors is to work with established ones or get into commercial art used in movie sets, hotels etc.”

Now if anyone has read the story of Michelangelo’s life you would probably see what I see. This describes exactly the situation and the challenge he faced over five hundred years ago. Not born into a family of sculptors, he had to struggle all his life to get commissions and risked everything he had to create art that was of his own vision, and did not adhere to the commonly accepted norms of the time. We know him today as one of the stalwarts of the Renaissance, but the man died amidst a life long struggle to be understood and accepted by his peers and the patrons of his time.

This unexpected parallel makes me ashamed. It would seem that in five hundred years we haven’t really grown much as a race. What happened in the Italy of the Renaissance is true even today. We have not developed enough of an appetite for art so that younger, newer artists can flourish. We do not have programs to really support novices who need both the emotional and financial support to hone their art and build a reputation. How many times has each of us been amazed at the price an average work by an “established” artist can command while a stunning piece by a new artist is listed for a fraction of that?

Whether it be in cinema, sculptor or any other form of art, connections it would seem are far more important than the skill. If you choose to be an artist you must accept that struggle is an integral part of your life. So if Michelangelo was a young man today he would still have to fight with MF Hussain to win commissions and most of us would have happily bought a horse painted by the latter over a piece of what Michelangelo created at the Sistine Chapel.