Contending Indian Art Worlds

This article argues that the notion of a singular art world will have to give way to that of ‘art worlds’, the point being, as Myers has suggested, ‘to imagine conditions of cultural heterogeneity, rather than those of consensus, as the common situation of cultural interpretation’ (1994: 13). The argument is based on a detailed analysis of the contending practice and discourse of two - of the several - groups involved with a traditional craft in coastal Orissa. More specifically the article explores the relation between the pragmatic concerns of patta chitra painters regarding their work on the one hand and the Indian art elite's priorities on the other. A central issue is the way the painters, as agents, seek to influence the reality in which they live. The specific case of a painter, who contextually has reframed Sanskrit extracts in order to secure his position as an acknowledged artist, illustrates the creative aspect of agency.