Death of Detail

A long day at work, and you’re tired to the bone. You decide to visit the nearby park to finally take a break, and seat yourself on a bench.

A few years ago, you’d be sitting on an elegantly carved bench, with ornate designs of animals, birds, or other urbane icons, but in the modern day, you’d be sitting on... this.

This is just a small example of the wave of minimalism which is now taking over the world. This style has become the social default for seemingly every design choice, whether architectural, corporate or home décor. This is a troubling trend, because minimalism represents a very scary phenomenon – a distinct lack of detail.

But why does detail matter? Think of it as an identity. What gave older phone boxes their distinct character? It was the details: a bright red color, moldings around the doors, ornamentation at the top. Now, the intricate detailing on phone boxes has vanished, and with it, their character.

It is indeed true that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but this is not just about the beauty. Rather, it is about things having discernible qualities & characteristics which give them a unique identity. Take bollards, for example. Hardly anyone pays attention to them, but the older bollards had some character, even if they were hardly “beautiful”. Bollards nowadays? They just exist meaningless and mute.

Gone are the elaborate throne-like lions, tigers and dragons which once adorned our furniture. Even park benches today have taken a turn towards minimalism.

You’d need an expert to explain the significance behind our detailed temple architecture, and the symbolic meaning they convey. But modern skyscrapers? They don’t really say anything. They are just there. Huge boxes – plain, simple and above all, completely “mute”.

As we move ahead, it’s time for us to look to the past. Recently, futuristis Indic art and Indic-themed art have flourished, with people taking to it like fishes to water.

The most obvious feature of these futuristic Indic art pieces (such as Mukesh Singh’s works from Grant Morrison’s 18 Days) is the intrinsic detail which spreads beautifully across the entire canvas. This attention to detail can be found across all ancient civilizations.

The worst crime of minimalist design is how it has stripped color from everything. From the temples of ancient India to the marvels of ancient Greece, each civilization told stories through their detailed artistry.

The current social drift towards minimalism has stripped away all identity. Suddenly, everything looks the same - absolute neutrality.

No details, no identity. The question is, what does this say about us as a people? Have we devolved from the glorious peaks of artistic evolution to being mute artists who have no life or light within our artistic expressions? Is minimalism leading to the death of detail, and the death of identity?

In my opinion, this goes beyond the ephemeral world which we perceive. Intricate art seems to provide some knowledge through its details. It tries to convey some idea, some message. In a way, detailed art imposes something on us.

Being fundamentally ego-driven beings, it has become a challenge for us to accept any form of imposition, which makes it easier for someone to appreciate minimalist, abstract designs having little to no substance of their own. Rather, they rely on the interpretation of the viewer, which boosts a person’s ego.

This might also give us an insight into why Indian society as a whole always favored detailed art over highly individualistic, abstract and minimalist art forms.

One of the fundamental values of the Indic society is a sense of collectivism, where collective dharma is valued more than individualism. It is not far reaching to actually believe that the strong collective knowledge-based identity of Indians made them lean more towards detailed art, which takes one away from individualism.

Well, at least for the students of our school, minimalism is a reality very far away. From our various Masquerade art pieces to our incredibly expressive and detailed Wall Magazines, our students still seem to possess things to tell the world through their art.