What is art? Aesthetic sense

KATHMANDU, Sept 2: Art, as most would agree, is a collective, and it comprises many forms. For this section this week, Republica asked the question “What is art?” to Pradeep Yonzon, one of the senior photographers of Nepal, for his perspectives on photography as a form of art.



“Well, I actually call myself an accidental photographer,” says the 56-year-old photographer with a perky smile and adds, “It took me many years to actually understand photography as art.”[break]



At a time when Nepal barely had anything that could be termed a fashion industry, Yonzon had one of the first opportunities to shoot Nepali fashion shows.



“It was in the late 1980s that my friends did a fashion show at Hotel Yak & Yeti. More than having my interest in glamour photography, I merely happened to get in the field, and people appreciated my work.”



The artistic perspectives of human beings, Yonzon says, seem rooted from the ancient times. He points out, “Consider the paintings found in prehistoric caves. The people then were hunters and gatherers, but some creative brains out of them took time to make all that.”







He pauses for a sip of coffee, recollects his thoughts and resumes, “Even though being members of a community, artists always seem to stand out with their visions that are quite different and unique from the societies they live in.”



For Yonzon, who started his career in photography at a time when the accessibility and affordability of cameras was a big deal, the initial phase of his career was just a job. But he says, to know photography as an art, you have to have that passion and zeal to learn.



“Only after I started researching in photography, which I used to do by referring to any books on photography available at the American Library and British Council (in Kathmandu), I found my passion, and with it, the self-compulsion of creating good shots,” shares Yonzon.



Besides, with newer and advancing technology, he opines that it is even harder to distinguish between what you would call professional artistic photography and the simple clicks of an amateur. But with his 32 years of experience in photography, he says, “Technology will change, but the simple thing is that if photography really means something to you, then it can’t just be about fun. It’s serious business.”



Yonzon concludes that photography as art for him has nothing to do with glamour or any particular genres, or as tricks and tools of the business. He asserts that art is first and foremost about the understanding of “the aesthetic sense – and it’s not camera tricks but what’s inside the artist.”

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