I look at facebook and other social networking sites. I see young people complaining. They are
complaining about everything. Young artists say that they don’t have enough money to support
their creative activities. Young art critics say that one day they will prove their worth. But my
question is what about today? What are you doing today? What are you supposed to do today?
No messiah, no patron and no other angel is going to come from the sky and uplift you from your
worries. So it is time for you to brace up and do your work because we have artists like that who
had done their bit without complaining during their life time.

M.F.Husain was one amongst them. He could not spend the final days of his life in his motherland.
We have been ruthless to creative people all the time so we sent him to exile. He led a happy life
their without complaining and did a lot of work. Husain must have had some sad feelings for all
that had happened to him towards the end of his life. But, he never showed it. He spent his life like
a creative warrior. Wherever he went, he painted. He used to tell his friends that he never knew
where he would be seen next. He led his life without complaints. Bikram Singh, the filmmaker
friend of Husain remembers him in his lead essay.

What do you do when you don’t have canvas and paint? Where do you create sculpture when you
don’t have a foundry at your disposal? There are ways, shows the Khirkee Extension project at
Khoj. In a detailed report Charty Dugdale narrates how a group of young Indian and visiting artists
changed the walls and surfaces of the Khirkee Village through a graffiti project.

Food has always been a political issue. Though for many it is something that stimulates body
and mind through rhythmic teasing of taste buds through a variety of dishes. For many others
food is an aesthetic issue. For yet another lot food is something that bridges people and cultures.
Whatever be the case, today food is a political issue; and it has been like that ever since. Wars are
waged for food, people are exiled for food and people are displaced from their places of dwelling,
thanks to the issues related to food.

In this issue of Art and Deal a few articles are on this issue of food. Bhoomika Jain relates food
with social disparities, while Jyotee, a Mumbai based artist speaks of how artificial food could
be connected to the generation of artificial intelligence and cloning. Darshana Sreedhar in her
column narrates the story of a Malayalam movie, titled ‘Salt and Pepper’ which brings out the
politics of food through a love story.

Let me take this opportunity to express my thanks to Neelam Malhotra, copy editor and coordinator
of Art and Deal, for keeping the momentum of the magazine on during my absence from
the workstation.

Yours sincerely,
JohnyML