tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post3010129787891682897..comments2024-03-28T15:07:22.673+05:30Comments on Shoot First, Mumble Later: Baptist Coelho and Werner HerzogGirish Shahanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-60626534215775093392011-05-30T11:46:59.995+05:302011-05-30T11:46:59.995+05:30Well, we have you for that. Oh, sorry, I forgot, w...Well, we have you for that. Oh, sorry, I forgot, while I sit behind my desk, you use a mask of anonymity. Nice.Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-21488336349962086052011-05-30T11:37:04.913+05:302011-05-30T11:37:04.913+05:30Girish, maybe it's time you made your own art....Girish, maybe it's time you made your own art. It's easy to sit behind your computer and trash somebody else' s work. Maybe we need critics for art critics, too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-88114148176955221522009-08-19T07:10:50.121+05:302009-08-19T07:10:50.121+05:30You didn't annoy me at all, Alex, in fact I...You didn't annoy me at all, Alex, in fact I'm very glad you commented and returned to explain yourself further. It is these discussions that keep the blog alive!Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-22105819340942233092009-08-19T01:39:46.240+05:302009-08-19T01:39:46.240+05:30Girish, apologies if I was too brief, didn't m...Girish, apologies if I was too brief, didn't mean to annoy you with my comment! Didn't get back to your blog til just now...<br /><br />I think there has always been quite a bit of slippage between the categories of "Romanticism" (narrowly defined) and the looser, more colloquial sense you refer to. Early Romanticism (with a capital R) certainly had quite a bit of overlap with the aestheticization of nationalist politics in the 19th century. <br /><br />As for the specifics here... I think in both you find melodrama and epic characterization, coercive mood setting, a drama of self-transcendence enacted through the image of the man(nequin) in extremis, confronted with an overpowering Other. Cinema generally has very deep powerful roots in the Romantic imagination--from its earliest days--and perhaps Herzog's greatest accomplishment is his explicit forefronting of that particular intrinsic quality. Think of the subjective eye of the audience member sitting in darkness before the fantastic screen, held there by (in Herzog's case an ineffable, impossibly held) image.<br /><br />Finally, on a more practical and down-to-earth note perhaps the Herzog film that would be most interesting to compare with Baptist's show would be his Encounters at the Edge of the World, which I enjoyed immensely, specifically his treatment of the figure "scientist" as compared with Baptist's "soldier"...Alexander Keefehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02428570289587241656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-90258551532562589632009-08-13T17:24:49.537+05:302009-08-13T17:24:49.537+05:30Thanks for putting your thoughts down, MP. After t...Thanks for putting your thoughts down, MP. After the last exchange, DS probably felt she was up against a tag team :)Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-569359584902325462009-08-13T15:14:49.522+05:302009-08-13T15:14:49.522+05:30State of mind, I believe, has a lot to do with the...State of mind, I believe, has a lot to do with the instinctive response one has to a work of art. My immediate reaction to Baptist's show left me feeling cold, raw and uncomfortable - a fairly strong reaction to the artist's work on the soldiers in Siachen. Not emotional or sentimental, nor did I feel he was romanticising his subject, I left with a feeling of hollowness and even some distance with the subject because of the depth and variety with which the artist conveyed his ideas. As DS mentions, “the artist takes the strand of repetition through several works in different media and ways of expression. For me , it denotes an artist's varied response to a singular stimulus.”<br /><br />I returned a few days later, a second time (after having read Girish's blog, especially because I have a lot of respect for his opinion) with a view to see the show more critically. Outside of the debate of whether Baptist could have/should have made it to Siachen (and not just to Ladakh), I think the show holds well as a first solo exhibit by a young artist. It certainly has loopholes (some of the titles are perhaps a bit too sentimental, or the double channel video with the girl and paper planes might have been further edited), but the strong pieces are worth noting; the soldier puppet, the animated video of stills where the soldier’s gear comes off piece by piece, and the video projection on the poncho are haunting and yet refreshing. The show is also technically well installed. I would suggest visiting Project 88 to see the show, for sure...MPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-63658680781340069242009-08-10T10:05:46.195+05:302009-08-10T10:05:46.195+05:30Ok. Rest my case. :). And will add the disclaimer ...Ok. Rest my case. :). And will add the disclaimer that not taking up the cudgels for anyone just that I happened to like the show!May not agree with all the text, but still would send others to see it.DSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-64283825771307700072009-08-10T09:41:41.683+05:302009-08-10T09:41:41.683+05:30Well, civilians HAVE gone up to the fight zone wit...Well, civilians HAVE gone up to the fight zone with permission. That national anthem shot by Bharatbala is an example, if I'm not mistaken.<br />Of course it is difficult getting permissions, but then nobody asked Baptist to create a show about Siachen, right?Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-84765851327284426152009-08-10T07:52:27.118+05:302009-08-10T07:52:27.118+05:30But there is no "chalta hai" attitude in...But there is no "chalta hai" attitude in the final works. That is the point finally isn't it? And he did go to the last possible point a civilian is allowed to at Siachen.DSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-29753156800721849252009-08-09T18:55:56.485+05:302009-08-09T18:55:56.485+05:30I can't comment on the show, having not seen i...I can't comment on the show, having not seen it - but I do agree very strongly about our tendency to do without that last burst of effort. It's not only with our art. I feel this constantly in my field, filmmaking. Same with so much writing, even with so many things we buy which are nice but lack that finishing which would make them really perfect. Perhaps it is something in our culture, this tendency to stop trying harder when we reach some minimum acceptable level because " itna chalega."<br /><br />I'm not much of a Herzog fan, and if Baptist has made some good videos, more power to him! But I find it funny that going to Ladakh should be a substitute for going to Siachen.Jabeenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00189109010157915847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-26094023481851555342009-08-09T08:45:31.099+05:302009-08-09T08:45:31.099+05:30Alex, I didn't suggest Herzog as an 'antid...Alex, I didn't suggest Herzog as an 'antidote' or as a model to be followed in general. I brought him up because Baptists's show concerns humans in an inhospitable terrain, the Siachen glacier, the kind of conflict Herzog has been preoccupied with through his career.<br />As far as the resemblance between Herzog and Dutta goes, I haven't seen any, but can't take the discussion further because you haven't specified how the two are linked. Herzog is a Romantic artist, narrowly defined in art historical terms. Dutta, and Hindi cinema in general, can be categorised as romantic in a looser, colloquial sense. In my introduction to the Herzog films I made a point of distinguishing between the two attitudes, which are frequently confused because the same word can be used to define both.Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-23843877760086282952009-08-09T06:29:10.704+05:302009-08-09T06:29:10.704+05:30I enjoyed the review, although I'm uncertain t...I enjoyed the review, although I'm uncertain that the antidote for maudlin sentimentalizing is ecstatic, Romantic truth a la Herzog... The latter seems best-suited to depicting the collapse of the political in the face of some transcendent nonhuman Other... what Baptist needs more of in this show is a critical engagement with the political. Herzog's romanticism may not, in the end, be all that far removed from J.P. Dutta's... just a thought.Alexander Keefehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02428570289587241656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-162153292157243002009-08-08T22:25:33.004+05:302009-08-08T22:25:33.004+05:30Maybe conversant but not equally...just an amateur...Maybe conversant but not equally...just an amateurs opinion....hope one of your more esteemed critic friends will contribute their opinion.<br /><br />Went back to hear the sound/ frozen cabinet piece which I hadn't heard at the opening and walked round the show again and liked it once more, each piece does hold its own even as the whole is cohesive.DSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-32524124841338854372009-08-07T10:31:40.782+05:302009-08-07T10:31:40.782+05:30I'm really glad you wrote in with this comment...I'm really glad you wrote in with this comment, DS. My post is pretty harsh, and an alternate opinion is very welcome from somebody equally conversant with the art scene here, somebody who perhaps approached the show in a more neutral mood than I did.Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-81065780018864719042009-08-07T10:24:55.348+05:302009-08-07T10:24:55.348+05:30Girish, the world will come a cropper in compariso...Girish, the world will come a cropper in comparison to Mr Herzog's manic ways and exacting standards of film making!<br />I disagree with a lot of what you have to say re the solo show by Baptist Coelho. Yes , I do agree that the harshness of the Siachen glacier may not have been captured like say Mr Herzog would have, but even if he'd tried would've have been at odds this once in a restricted area. And so Ladakh and Manali.<br />But I haven't seen such a body of cohesive work in a first solo for a long time. I love shows where the artist takes the strand of repetition through several works in different media and ways of expression. For me , it denotes an artist's varied response to a singular stimulus. Baptist has done that here and done it well. As a first, it's a rigorous exercise he has followed, sticking to an idea and presenting it in an innovative and conceptually sound form in so many ways.Technically these artworks are sound, in concept , in execution and display.<br />For one so young, it was refreshing to see works so well thought out and well finished unlike many a shoddy production put out by senior artists.This IS his first solo in Bombay and I disagree entirely with you that it is complacent work. It may not, as you say go that extra mile BUT he is young and his mind seems to stretch even if the methodology as yet does not.DSnoreply@blogger.com