#infamousarts

Two quick edits to try and fix Mercy’s new karen hairstyle. Left is her original hairstyle, middle is her old combat medic hair, and right is an attempt to make the bob a little fluffier.

Here’s the Defense.

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How did you decide drawing about your religion was what you wanted to do?

First Year of University I got a question to create a collection of art pieces based on stories, so it could be anything like a collection of buttons, trainers you collect, the people you know that have stories and meaning you etc. So I looked around and I wanted something with a deep meaning so I turned to my Religion and I began to research and ever since then I’ve never stopped, the research continues.  Also looking around in the Asian community we don’t have a lot of creative’s, we all seem to be Doctors, Lawyers or owners of corner chops.  What creates a culture? It’s not the money it’s the creative side, the food, the fashion, music and the Arts.

Who are your main influences?

The vast majority of modern Sikh art is still living in the shadow of Sobha Singh, practically tracing his work; thus the creativity has become stagnant there is nothing, we have seen it all before. it is Inbred Art. Then I stumbled on Jatinder Singh Durhailay and he is one of my major influences, solely for the reason he is the first artist I have seen that creates original Sikh art. This alone sparked my interest to create images of my Gurus that are personal to me and not copying someone else’s image or ideas.

How did you come up with your name Infamous Arts?

The name and the logo are both intertwined, a lotus rising up through the infamous world, not being affect and being able to float above it.

ਜਿਉ ਜਲ ਮਹਿ ਕਮਲੁ ਅਲਿਪਤੋ ਵਰਤੈ ਤਿਉ ਵਿਚੇ ਗਿਰਹ ਉਦਾਸੁ ॥

As the lotus flower floats unaffected in the water, so does (one) remains detached in his own household (sggs 949).

The flower itself is used across the eastern parts of the world as a sign of hope and purity. Due to the fact it begins its life deeply rooted in the muddy pond. It then grows from the bottom of the pond all the way to the top, and then sprouts its petals in way that its petals do not touch the ponds mud or slime. Therefore it has become the symbol of life, that we are born into a world full of various conflicts, impurity and desires, but if we have the will to resist it; we too shall rise above it and remain pure, achieving enlightenment.

How do publications portray 21st century British Desi culture?

From my personal knowledge I think a lot of publications are positive in the Uk, Desi Culture has grown so much especially in Birmingham. There’s a lot of Bhangra Events, Birmingham is home to the Balti and Britons favourite dish is the Chicken tikka masala. We couldn’t have achieved this if we had a lot of negative publications. Recently models like Waris Ahluwalia, SinghStreetStyle and Jatinder Singh Durhaily have modeled for Gap, Levi, louis vuitton etc We also have  Brit Asia and the BBC Asian network two channels that promote British Desi culture, but with all of this i would say we still the least represented in British media than any other group.

How does perception of identity affect how people design?

Identity could relate to a great many things but it’s something that makes us us, and every designer and creative puts themselves into what they create. If they didn’t we would have the diversity we have today. Thus British Desi will have a different design trend compared to their Indian counterparts, because we have been schooled in British institutions creating a mix of cultures. Personally I have a lot of work which is Sikh based but the art style I would say is very western digitally designed and finished.

Do editorial publications portray a realistic sense of how 21st Century British Desi Asians live daily?

I don’t think publications outside of British Desi scene do a good job, I think a lot of it is the stereotypical comedy side of the culture. The labelling of the whole Asian subcontinent for example fits into the title ‘British Desi’ but there various types of Desi which need to be promoted, Pakistani, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali cultures, Each are different and bringing a different twist or aspect on the Desi culture, I have never seen it explored or promoted in depth to that level.

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