|
|
Art
|
Art
on Wheels
.
|
| Afghanistan, India, Iran,
Pakistan...
|
Life is full contradictions. What could be more of
paradox than the local version of the common
truck? Often a menace on the road, breathing free
and smoke, and scattering all before it, It is Afghanistan's,
Pakistan's and India's answer to the
erstwhile dragon. But though a menace, it is at
the same time disarming one, for it is also in its
own way a work of art. No vehicle will be out of
use. Their wagon will be changed with wooden one
and will be painted: Truck, mini-dragon, notorious
auto-rickshaw, rickshaw, taxies and buses, old or
new, add colors and gaiety to the cities.
All these nations revel in color and decoration.
No occasion is necessary, it is part of normal
everyday life. Nothing is left ascetically cold or
aesthetically pure; from head to toe, mud hut to
palace, they always love to embellish and enliven
their surroundings.
It is not surprising, therefore, that trucks and
rickshaws are such delightfully decorative
objects. The most attractively got up vehicles are
the owner driven. All the wealth, taste and status
of the owner is reflected in their appearance, as
opposed to cars, whose drivers, rich or poor, are
not really very different from each other.
When it comes to trucks and buses, it is usually
those that travel over long distant routes,
particularly up-country with low speed, which are
the most richly decorated. Flowers, in vases or
bouquets, or pretty little landscapes arte the
most common motifs. The lettering, whether Urdu,
India, Pashtu, Persian or English, is always
ornate. The finest pure Victoriana! Every part of
the truck is decorated, flaps, under-carriage and
hub. Front fenders are chromium-plated steel
(sometimes wood, in old cars in Afghanistan), but
with elaborate cut-work. The style, primitive,
native and full of inventiveness, has about it
rare uncontrived quality.
The idea is simple: To make it pretty. Open the
door to driver's seat and look in, the pride and
joy of the driver really reaches its peak here:
Veritable fairy-tale glitter meets the eye; the
surface is richly patterned like good brocade,
lights glow everywhere. it is absolute sensation.
Rickshaws Have less scope. Owners are usually
poorer. Nevertheless, they produce some pretty
exotic work. Body is painted in bright fluorescent
colors, again embellished with flowers or fanciful
landscapes, not to mention the messages, greeting
and prayers.
Dragon is in the decoration of the plastic canopy
that the best ones excel. Appliquéd with gold
leaves, diamonds, stars, the work is like gota
(tinsel) or lace, an intricate, yet bold pattern
meticulously stitched together.
The best landscapes appear on the back of petrol
or water tankers. They are nearly always of
picturesque lakes and mountains, with winding
roads. Little trucks go up and down, and
rose-covered cottages complete the picture. Scenes
have great charm, oddly enough enhanced by the
limitations of the tanker's oval shape. The oval
frame belongs to another era and landscapes are
right in tune with it.
In Iran, these
decorations are different. Paintings are seldom
seen. Mostly, lettering are speaking to the
viewer: Letters of Gray Life!
Trucks, vans, buses, Taxis have always written on
their body, glass ,and of course surely on their
back: Persian words, poems and proverbs, which are
sometimes wrote in English letters. Religious is
one of the most subjects, especially on buses;
other subjects are too vast, but mostly are
related to the depressed people of the last years
of 2oth century of Iran; also, lyric poems,
Persian proverbs,... to jokes, mostly with
monotone colors.
.
|
| |
|
|
Painting
in Pakistan
|
|
Afghanistan; Iran;
Pakistan
|
|
|
| |
