Mumbai's famous Madhubala mural is gone; so, who is in charge of conserving street art?

Sajid Wajid Shaikh`s mural in Delhi. Photo: Sajid Wajid Shaikh

What can stop murals on Mumbai's streets from being painted over? Very little, it turns out.

But the case for preserving these wide-open works of art has only been gaining ground. "When it is in a public space, art is also ‘owned' by the public because it has its own value. It is an equity and landmark in itself," city-based contemporary artist Sajid Wajid Shaikh points out. "The only way to protect the art is to educate people who are in the vicinity." The value of a property goes up, for instance, when the British artist Banksy paints on its wall.

There are civic benefits to be had too. "After a mural is painted very rarely do you see spit stains or things like that. People get cautious of the wall. Somehow, a plain wall attracts such misbehaviour more than the painted one," says Mihir Thakkar, who conducts street art tours, echoing Shaikh's sentiment about the value of the art. Murals have a limited lifespan, however - approximately two years before they start fading due to rain and sunlight.

So every two to three years, St+art India Foundation does touch-ups depending on the state in which the works are. Arjun Bahl, co-founder of the not-for-profit, which aims to cover walls across urban India in art, says: "We use the best quality paints and try to prepare the walls properly so that they can at least last for five to seven years. Most recently we have also been using a special coat of paint over the walls which gives extra protection."

A sense of community is evident from the fact that, more often than not, artists refrain from painting over each other's work. While this is is mainly out of mutual respect, the other reason is there are so many walls in Mumbai that there is no need for overlap. Especially without due permission. Painting over is simply considered ‘not cool'.

Sajid Wajid Shaikh's mural in Mahim Art District Photo: Naman Saraiya

The mess around Messi
These conversations come in the wake of an incident from little over a week ago. Two of the most popular Bollywood murals in Bandra had disappeared overnight. Created in 2012 by city-based artist Ranjit Dahiya, the founder of the Bollywood Art Project (BAP), the paintings of Madhubala and Anarkali were replaced with the familiar yet out-of-place figure of footballer Lionel Messi, as a part of a campaign by the popular beer brand Budweiser. The campaign celebrates the Argentinian footballer's feat of scoring 644 goals and breaking the Brazilian football great Pele's record. The new mural was made in collaboration with creative agency Animals and mural artists Wicked Broz. Dahiya remained unavailable for comment.

Many from the art community took to social media to criticise the move. While they were okay with another artist painting on city walls, the fact that it was used as a platform to advertise, even though the logo hasn't appeared anywhere, irked them. In Delhi's Hauz Khas Village, murals made in collaboration with Madrid-based Okuda San Miguel and M-City were similarly replaced with those of Messi.

Shaikh, who has been involved in the Mahim Art District project with Delhi-based St+art India Foundation, says, "There is no law to protect works but there is a subliminal law and understanding that you shouldn't be doing something like this." He adds, "These murals in Delhi and Bollywood Art Project (BAP) have their own intrinsic value. It is like Picasso painting on your street and someone coming by and pasting a jumbo circus poster on it. I think the city has been robbed of something like the BAP murals in the name of publicity." In graffiti culture, which has its own rules and regulations, he says an act like this would "start, like, an art war." The war between King Robbo and Banksy from less than a decade ago is an example.

The brand sought to make amends following the outcry, reaching out to St+Art Foundation, who first brought out the issue on Instagram. It also contacted Dahiya for a potential collaboration. While the brand did not respond to questions from Mid-Day.com, it released a statement earlier, saying, "We are deeply concerned that the sentiments of the artists and the street art community have been hurt and we empathize. Our intent was to inspire fans showcasing the G.O.A.T's journey, through an artform we love and support. Doing so we have inadvertently hurt sentiments; we have reached out to the artists of the original artworks @BAP @startIndia, and will work together to restore these walls - all in good faith."

Looking back on the incident, Bahl notes, "Where Budweiser went wrong was that they painted over existing murals which are an important part of Bombay and Delhi and they did it with Messi, which was I believe not even painted but printed. Why paint over someone else's work which is an iconic part of Bombay? It also did take up a lot of time and was funded by Bollywood Art Project, so for a brand to come and be insensitive is an issue." However, Bahl compliments the brand and admits that the fact that they have reached out is encouraging not only for the artist but for the street art culture in India, as they want to celebrate street art just like everybody else in the community.

Indian artist Ranjit Dahiya (L) instructs a painter as they work on a wall mural of Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar in Mumbai on December 29, 2016. Photo: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP

As a matter of art
While Bandra has a connection with football, street art enthusiasts argue the Messi mural is out of place. Shaikh says, "The most important thing is the intent. The way Bollywood Art Project made that entire portrait on the wall, you got inspired by it. So what happened is something commercial was slapped on a piece of art that existed for art's sake or for culture's sake."

Delhi-based Bahl adds, "You can say Bandra plays football, I understand but there is no community connect there. They could have done it in a more specific way near a playground or where people play football and be with the community and done some workshop with the kids, maybe given kits out. I think the community involvement was missing."

Street art is all about a conversation that the viewer has with the artwork, says Thakkar, who is also an architect. "A mural like the one around Sassoon Dock has done that as it has inspired kids and will inspire them in the future to look at art differently and receive it in a different way." The form has even started making its way into galleries of Mumbai, as evidenced by recent exhibitions by the street artist Tyler.

This may just be the beginning of a larger movement, which revolves around not only preserving street art and murals but also putting guidelines into place that will help protect street art. In India, it has evolved into a form of expression, with the involvement of private partners and building owners and it is only fair that such art be protected. While Bahl informs that they are in discussions about it with various stakeholders, he thinks it is tricky territory as the very nature of art is that it is on public property, and not owned by the artist.