The Arts & Culture ecosystem of India features a complex and interdependent set of relationships among arts organizations; their communities – reflecting the people who live there – the artists, art & cultural organizations, local complementary or substitute businesses and organizations; and finally, the cultural policies that influence the production and consumption of arts and culture. Art is even used to build physics programs by loading physics algorithms, provided as plug-in modules. Art is both used by and relies on other products to integrate into an experiment’s event-processing software architecture

A healthy arts ecosystem maximizes the capacity of arts like painting to improve the lives of human beings in concrete and meaningful ways. Each human being today and in the future, has an opportunity to participate in creation of arts given the culturally enriched gamut that India provides provided it is appropriate to his/her interest and skill. The art ecosystem of India is modeled on this perspective of contribution of art to the personal development of an individual. Creative arts like painting have today become a uniquely effective tool for many people in the pursuit of self-actualization and form a major part of what psychologists refer to as art therapy.

While the evidence base for the benefits of the arts is continually developing and evolving, it is safe to assume that participation in arts offers value to a large majority of human beings and can be life changing. There are some people whose contribution matters the most in the formation of a strong art ecosystem. A person whose work connects to a large audience and adds something unique to the cultural diet of India or expresses the culture of the deeply marginalized population of the society are greatly sought-after individuals today when the value of the human emotional quotient has become manifold. The work of such a person wins unusual acclaim from experts and strengthens the chain of artistic endeavors of India and gives it a worldwide forum.

An important aspect of the formation of an art ecosystem is the concept of the “common” and “scarce” opportunities to participate in creation of art. More and more excellent art schools like Anthelion School of Art are coming up to provide a platform to teach art. This theory is based on a valid vision of human understanding. The notion of common and scarce opportunities proceeds from an acceptance of two realities: first; we live in a world of limited resources, and second, that certain forms of participation in the arts require more of those resources than others. Opportunities that are easily provided which means “common” and should be distributed widely, while more resource-intensive which means “scarce”, participation opportunities should be concentrated to the extent possible with people who contribute or have the potential to contribute a lot of value through their artwork to the rest of society.

The Indian art ecosystem, especially its organizational aspects has not been studied in depth. Individual galleries such as Saffron Art in India have been researched. However, the entire art ecosystem has not been studied from the organizational

perspective. With the advent of technology and digital marketing, the art ecosystem of India has undergone a surge in the world market. Most people have always looked to invest their savings in either real estate or gold. Yet, there are sectors like art that have yet remained unexplored.

As an investment option, it is often seen as an area for the niche elite. Mr. Sandip Malik aims to change this with his venture. His move strives to totally alter the trend of investments in India. The upcoming companies may follow this lead and evidence suggests that in a few years art investment will become a popular trend in India.   Mr. Malik is the founder and CEO of Prime Art Capital. A few months ago, they launched an iOS app called Prime Collector, a luxury lifestyle app that enables users to digitize their art and schedule a suite of services like insurance, storage or valuations. Among core buyers, there are a few who get emotionally attached after seeing a certain artwork and they tend to love the aesthetics of the art work and thus buy it to possess it. Others, called bulk buyers are a separate category and buying happens through interior decorators or people assigned within an organization.

It is enticing to evaluate that creative industries thrive on creativity and autonomy. The nature of command and control in such organizations needs to be broken for it to become more innovative.

It stands to reason that a willingness to explore and try new things would be correlated with creativity the most important factor, however, is not an external stimulus but the human brain that possesses the capacity to both create and destroy.

A lesser known fact is that psychologists sometimes encourage patients to use artistic expression to confront difficult feelings to distract the mind and keep it happy. Creativity is thus an important key to happiness. In general, activities that require more holistic perception like spatial reasoning, and appreciation of beauty stimulate the right hemisphere and those activities which require more analytical thinking—including language—stimulate the left.

There is a notion that people who are right -brain thinkers tend to be imaginative and subjective while left brained people are logical and pragmatic. Scientifically, the right hemisphere of the brain does coordinate the left side of the body and perform tasks that have do with creativity and arts. But, no one side can perform a task solitarily. Mental processes are interlinked and together perform the functions of bodily coordination. Neuroscientists have used brain imaging to prove that while the brain does use different sides to carry out certain functions, there is no one governing side.

For instance, while painting one needs to have his/her spatial perception and hand-eye coordination clear while also being imaginative and creative. In the beginning, one needs to be able to visualize the final painting in their mind, then, develop the painting, choose the elements, match and mix colors, place the shadows and highlights and finally they need to be able to look critically at what they have done which is controlled by the left brain resulting in comprehensive sanctity.

Again, as it turns out, there’s a major neuroscientific link between openness to new experience and creative thinking. Exploration of the mind and the outside world is tied to the neurotransmitter dopamine, which also plays a role in motivation and learning.

There is, now, enough evidence to suggest that the right brain or creative impulses help in the overall wellbeing of a person and his/her happiness. Components of a creative personality, like the quest for a new experience and perseverance, are also good predictors of life satisfaction. Sometimes a person may get so involved in his artistic endeavor that they tend to forget everything else.

Getting into a state of flow can produce substantial happiness, the kind that lasts longer than the pleasure we get from eating good food. But it is a slow and gradual process and does not produce immediate results. Nowadays, schools like Anthelion School of Art focus on the wholesome well-being of a person through the concentrated method of painting.

In our fast-moving world with way too much information and responsibility, our brain reaches the highest point of pressure very often. The risk of not paying attention to the warning signs of mental pressure are that sometimes, we overload the left brain so much that even hours of sleep cannot heal it and many normal functions of the brain get disrupted. The best way to maintain the balance is to use the right brain function of creativity and art more often. The use of the right brain releases endorphins, making us feel good and taking care of the rising pressure levels in our lives.

Therefore institutions like Anthelion School of Art have come up with art therapy. It is also the reason for the selling of coloring books for adults in bookstores, with claims that making art can help us to become more mindful and resilient during times of stress. In fact, creativity if channeled correctly could be so powerful that. It can help people to cope with chronic illnesses like cancer. It may be appalling that creativity has so many positive effects on human health. Studies show that art It allows one to express and process emotions, It helps us focus on the moment and “live the present”, and also increase self-confidence.

To conclude, although happiness is in principle difficult to define and study, it is inextricably linked to the right brain functions that stimulate creativity and emotions and play a key role in the formation of a strong and disciplined personality devoid of negative experiences like depression and lack of confidence.

They say Art is a way of life – one that inspires a human being to achieve, to de-stress and to motive oneself to walk the path of life with the hope of success. Nowadays, people are trampled under work pressure and deadlines; they need some space to vent their feelings and emotions. What better way is there than to use art as a medium of expression!  Then again, we are social beings who cannot stay isolated from society. Consequentially, whatever we do is shared among our tribe.

When one creates art, they give themselves an opportunity to face their fears, their hopes and their visions and ideals. Further, one can fearlessly convey their saddest despairs and great happiness through their work, be it, fine art or painting.

Painting specifically, is an unconventional form of expression. In fact, painting as a spiritual practice is an act of conscious, creative alignment with our innately creative soul. The artist can surrender, to open his/her heart, and see themselves through new eyes and to show the audience a new perspective of life.

** Artwork by our Students

Today, the progress of painting as spiritual therapy runs parallel to most hardcore scientific therapies. Here at Anthelion School of Art. we help people develop themselves spiritually through painting.

Moving on to personal use of paintings, a good painting not only sets one a class apart, it is also more visually appealing and decorative compared to other visual artifacts. Many people value modern paintings according to how well they can spark a conversation. A beautiful painting and its painter can open one’s mind to a new vision of the world, while some other may electrify emotions, while other ones simply set a style for a room.

Most importantly perhaps, in today’s world where the focus is shifting from mainstream professions to more creative ones, painting provides great financial scope. With the advent of modernism, painting as a genre has metamorphed into various categories giving its lovers myriad possibilities to explore. For example, Abstract art refers to a style of painting that does not use objective reality as a reference. Instead, the artist alludes to his or her subject and reduces it to a simplified form. Colors and shapes are used to portray emotions and the landscape of one’s inner world.

Another major issue of discussion today is the proper growth of a child’s perception and understanding. Well, yes, Painting helps with that too. When parents encourage their children to learn painting, they are sharpening their child’s large and small muscle development, as well as their eye-hand coordination. Using crayons, markers, and paintbrushes helps children practice the fine motor control they will need for writing later on. As children work together in art schools, they learn to share, to interact with others, to be responsible for cleanup, and to put materials away. These are positive and important changes for social learning. Anthelion School of Art takes special care to encourage children into group work facilitating their behavioral development.

** Artwork by our Students

Talking of behavioral development, it is quite evident that people are losing their human touch in the race to succeed in their lives, it is not wrong to say that painting brings this humanity back into human beings. It helps us to communicate in a different, personal language. This is a great benefit for all people and mainly for those who have conditions with a lack of communication or problems expressing themselves such as: shyness, autism and other disabilities. In this global society driven by competition, painting gives one a recluse; Working in a non-competitive, relaxed environment (the teacher plays a major role here) will enable the student to come closer to greater personal achievements; this will strengthen his/her individuality and self-esteem. This is especially significant for people with codependency, traumatic conditions and elderly people who need activities that can strengthen their autonomy.

People who immerse themselves several hours painting or creating something enter a purer area, in a very strong state of concentration; they abstract themselves from their surroundings and time passes by without noticing it. Physical pains fade away; it is almost like entering another dimension without leaving our body. This concentration state is called Alpha; one part of the brain is conscious and the other pulls the unconscious out. There is more creation because a pure energy is transmitted to what´s being created, and we can spend hours without feeling tiredness, pain or other conditions eventually making the person more socially lovable.

Practice, understand and discussing art creates a better understanding of it.

All these factors direct an individual to the most essential element lacking in human life today- Learning how to paint has all the benefits of good entertainment:  laughter, social acceptance and learning something new.