conscious decision to express myself through the medium of painting and later in sculpture.
The journey of my expression through art has been similar to the journey of contemporary Indian art after Independence— of derivation, of introspection and of discovering ones own creative visual expression.
Q: Why do so many artists and creators have such volatile personalities?
VED NAYAR answers:
It is not necessary for an artist to have a volatile personality.
Since recent past, our world, including art profession, has become very competitive, exposure and sale oriented. Volatility or pretentious volatility in the personality of the artist helps him to register his presence.
Q: Do you consider yourself postmodern?
VED NAYAR answers:
I am a cotemporary artist in a fast changing world. My art expression remains abreast with the time.
Sometimes, however, my mind takes a

flight into the future. We will exhaust our planet & make it unlivable. We will search another planet to live. Man will modify himself to live in the environment of the selected planet & will design the accessories, he will need to survive there, to modify the planet for his survival & for his needs. I begin to feel, about the tendencies emerging on the horizon, to alter and use the nature’s biological code by artists sometime in the future.
Q: How should a work of art be evaluated?
VED NAYAR answers:
Let the history evaluate a work of art.
When we try to evaluate a work of art, our associations, our prejudices, our group allegiances, our biases, our ignorances, our art gallery and auction house associations, our buyer references, public relation pressures, theprice tags begin to influence our judgments.
Q: Must an artist reinvent him/herself everyday?
VED NAYAR answers:
An artist should live his life intensely,

evolve his creativity continuously and remain relevant to the time.
The artist is the representative of his time.
Q: What do you think about public funding for the arts?
VED NAYAR answers:
Public funding for art is essential.
But there should be a definite and rigid distinction between the public funding for the promotion of art and public funding for acquiring excellence in art, for National collection as representative of our time & creativity.
Q: Is art necessary?
VED NAYAR answers:
We cannot go on living for bread and butter alone.
Art is an essential requirement for living, for contributing content to living & for preserving it for posterity.
Q: Does it pain you to let go of a pieceyou have sold?
VED NAYAR answers:
Yes
But the work of art should be available

to all and to the history.
Q: Is a work of art purchased, or is it better said, that it is the artist who is bought?
VED NAYAR answers:
These days most of the time, artist is bought .…. seldom the art.
Q: In art, there is no guide. How do you know what the next step is?
VED NAYAR answers:
I have to indulge in myself to continue or take the next step.
Q: How do you feel about the fact that the pieces exhibited in contemporary art museums are often of artists already deceased?
VED  NAYAR answers:
The scene is gradually changing.
We may consider to bifurcate the collection of excellence in contemporary art. Works of living contemporary artists are housed in National Gallery of Modern (contemporary) Art. The works of excellence of already deceased contemporary artists are housed in National contemporary art museum.

Keep the definitions of living and deceased flexible. When a work of contemporary art gets qualified to shift from National gallery of Modern (contemporary) art to reach National contemporary art museum, it will be excellent beyond doubt and will be a national/ global treasure.
Q: What role have the figures of art dealer, gallery owners, representatives, and intermediaries in general played in your career?
VED NAYAR answers:
Negative.
Example 1:
I was invited to participate in a group exhibition by an art gallery in Delhi. The curator of the group show came to my studio to see the 'Last Aggression - 1994'- a drawing. He approved the work. The work was printed in the catalogue. In the morning of the day of the inauguration, 'The Last Agression-1994' was displayed in the gallery. Before the inauguration, the work was sent back to my studio'.
Now the work is accepted and sought after.

' Example 2:
A collector of my work came to see exhibition of my paintings & sculptures. He wanted a particular Gallery man to see the exhibition. He rang up the Gallery man to come. Gallery mancame not to see the exhibition but to take away the collector of my works.
Q: What types of jobs do you usually do?
VED ANSWERS:
I am a whole time free- lance artist.
I paint, I sculpt, I draw.
I think about my art and I write about my art.