The Saga of Sculptures and its everlasting relevance

“Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination, and encourages people to go further.” – Keith Haring

Any form of art in the public realm, especially sculptures have a huge prominence in how people perceive the world and the socio-cultural, artistic, and political significance of their lives. Sculptures can immortalize events, people, and ideologies. Sculptors serve as historians, documenting instances of abuse, neglect, torture, slavery, and various other forms of injustices that shake peoples’ collective consciousness. Sculptures serve as beautiful artifacts that will forever remain in our memories for their superlative aesthetic quality.

Sculptures evoke emotions that stay with us for a lifetime. Sculptures of icons and leaders serve as sources of inspiration, the assertion of their legacy and ideology to the general public. Sculptures help people to reminisce and closely travel with the leader that they loved and cherished shadowing and cherishing the instances that they had lost with their dear leader or comrade by their departure to the heavenly abode. India as such has a rich history of constructing statues and monuments to recognize, respect, and preserve political and social movements and the important leaders involved in it.

Social sculpture is a phrase used to describe an expanded concept of art that was invented by the artist and co-founder of the German Green Party, Joseph Beuys. Beuys created the term "social sculpture" to put forth his understanding of art's potential to transform society. As a work of art, a social sculpture includes human activity that strives to structure and shape society or the environment. The central idea of a social sculptor is an artist who creates sculptures in society using language, thoughts, actions, and objects. Social sculptures provoke thoughts, discussion, and debates among people, organizing the chaos that exists in various forms in our society. Sculptures thrive in the propagation of democracy and secular concerns of the people through symbolism, souvenirs, and various forms of conceptualization. Viewing a sculpture in a three-dimensional format adds a lot of intrigue among viewers as they deeply appreciate the craftsmanship that has gone into the process of sculpting.

Sculptures have a deeply inherent nature of elevating any commonplace. Artifacts such as sculptures transcend us to an alternative universe where we discover ourselves and the world around us better. Sculptures in a lot of ways serve as the perfect confluence of fantasy and reality, such as surrealism where the sculptors take the audience through a journey covering the processes and thoughts of the sculptor’s mind.

The Art of sculpture making is constantly evolving with various versions and nuances being constantly incorporated to suit the cultural settings of the community these pieces of art inhabit. The creativity burst that sculptures initiate and disseminate is vital in the growth of artistic minds. Sculptures serve as important tourist attractions for they help tourists understand the history of the land.

Sculptures have essentially become symbolic tools for the representation of power, autonomy, and facilitating the voices of the oppressed, greatly highlighting its need in modern contemporary societies.

The depiction of culture, realities, and lived experiences can be best understood and envisioned through art, and let's all constitute a revolution by creating art that is empathetic, inspiring, and serves as a mirror to the growth and development of society!

Written By: Krithika A