Indian Folk Paintings

From the vibrant colours of Patachitras to the monochromic simplicity of Warlis, folk painting in India has multidimensional facets. Form, colour, shape, and expression vary widely from region to region. However, the painting style and themes of particular regions have defied time and remained astonishingly static through the ages. This strong rooted nature of folk paintings that mocks the bending sickle of time can be traced back to its mythic archetypal nature. People vary largely in their opinion about the desired nature of folk art - should it adapt itself to modernity or should it rather churn out of traditional imagery?

There is much debate among art critics and art historians regarding folk art as a repository of traditional wisdom. While some of them rebuke traditional Indian folk paintings as simply being the relics of a 'hoary past', others hail it as the site of our spiritual mooring that draws heavily from the sacred well of deep knowledge. Pushing the endless debates to the oblivion, one can simply enjoy the exquisite creations for the very act of creation is a profound performance of devotion. It is a being and also a becoming. A different dimension should be carved out where Indian Folk Art should be seen only as a part of India's rich culture that is very much living and still an integral part of Indian folk identity.