Artist Balan Nambiar, who has recently taken over as the acting chairman of the central Lalit Kala Akademi, the national academy of fine arts, has said his top priority is to stop the Akademi's ‘deterioration' and reclaim normality so that a conducive environment is created for its growth.
In an e-mail interview with The Hindu , Mr. Nambiar said mismanagement of the affairs of the Akademi had distanced most senior artists from it over the last decade. “I want all those artists who are interested in the Akademi to come back together,” he said.
Quickly finding his feet in the administration of the Akademi that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, Mr. Nambiar said he noticed a lot of ‘administrative lapses' in its running, an oblique reference to the controversy over the now-annulled sacking of the Akademi secretary, Sudhakar Sharma, by previous chairman Ashok Vajpeyi.
“The style of functioning of every chairman can be different. Obviously, my approach need not be the same as the previous chairman's,” he said.
Mr. Nambiar said issues pertaining to allegation of mismanagement and lapses on the part of the Akademi secretary were not resolved. Unfortunately, the procedure adopted by the previous chairman was found incorrect by the Legal Department of the Union Ministry of Culture. So the secretary was reinstated, he said.
Asked if efforts would be made to revive plans to hold a Modern Indian Art Triennale, he said he would first take some corrective administrative measures and then launch the Triennale.
“Modern art is quite vibrant in India now. However, the uninitiated need to be educated about the current scenario of art in the country,” he said about the measures required to popularise modern art and end increasing intolerance of artistic expression. The solution, he said, lay in education and exposure to original works of art.
