By Balbir Singh
INDIANAPOLIS: Mr KP Singh, who specializes in pen and ink drawings on a wide range of subjects, described the Talbot Street Art Fair, as a gathering place and a place of learning. Educated in India and at the University of Michigan in architecture and city planning, renowned American Sikh from Indianapolis, Mr Singh in an exclusive interview said "This fair began 60 years ago. Today it is the 60th anniversary of one of the oldest fairs in the country. It began in a modest manner. Sixty years ago people came here and put their artwork on the tables."
Mr Singh, recipient of numerous international and national awards, including prestigious Daverman Merit Award in Architecture from the University of Michigan, said "now there are 270 tents of creativity right across four separate streets in the heart of downtown of Indianapolis with every kind of art sculpture, water colour, drawings, painting, oils, various kinds of creative arts, jewelry.
"It has grown in tremendous way, in the dimension.... On an average it has attracted 60, 000 people in two days. So it has gained in stature as one of the oldest art fairs of the country and grown in size as well. Many families and friends bring their children to learn some thing about art and introduce them to art and theatre. So it is a great opportunity to look at art not as in formal museum or some body's gallery but look at a common place where we are and where any body can see, touch us, contact us or speak to you and enquire about it. So it is bringing art to the people, rather dragging the people out where the museum or the art may be. It is a tremendously successful venture for the whole industry of the outdoor art fair.
"A great deal of money exchanges hands. People buy artwork and take it for their friends for a special day, for a special day like the Father's Day coming up, Mother's Day and other events and give it to people in other countries. So from a simple street fair, art travels to all over the world. The important part is that art is not for elite few, art is every body's business because our very spirit and art reflect and we can learn about each other. Not about city or state or nation but looking at the art they create or the art they introduce creativity, capacity of imagination, fun and introduction to life style of the people and their ideas and interpretation of life as it is.
"So in that sense, it is a great opportunity of a centre of learning. This is a street of learning as it has environment in Amritsar, where in the back street thousands of people passing through and buying through stalls, vendors and merchants in the very narrow streets of old Delhi or Amritsar or old Istanbul. So it has that kind of environment of very friendly and less frightening, overwhelming as such because of friendly people have the sense that I have visited the art fair. For many of them it is an annual ritual. It was at the Talbot Street art fair. It is a joyful experience. We look at that way to bring the art to the people for them to enjoy, and if something they like they can take home or for some special occasion and special people, " concluded Mr Singh.