Moving canvases: truck as a new medium

Abstract

The most common sight of daily life in India consists of the omnipresent truck that travels on the highways all across the nation. For everybody on the road, truck is a commonplace sign of thriving overland transport industry, and for many a momentary pause of appreciation of the wooden structures on the wheels covered with clashing motifs. A striking vision on the roads of India is the vision of truck covered in a riot of color and design. These monstrous vehicles are better known for clogging traffic then for their aesthetic qualities. There are three million trucks in India. Perhaps the biggest paradox of truck art is that despite its commonness most people do not recognize it as art. Truck art like movie banners, advertising and posters, is a popular medium that expresses the creators thoughts. It is a popular form of art that is self advertising and propagating one, which has no single artist, which is regional yet universal, which is exposed to masses.

I want to look in to the concept of usage of paintings and the decorations done on the trucks in the specified domain of art. So through this project I want to show the importance of visual representation in popular culture by focusing on the decorations done on the truck. It is an attempt to go beyond the basic characterization of art and look in to how forms of art convey identity in society through this mode of visual communication.