singh twins, welcome to hardtalk. now, you were born in england, but you took a trip for the first time to india when you were teenagers in 1980, and that s when you were first exposed to indian miniature paintings. you describe that as a turning point in your lives why? well, the trip to india was a turning point in our lives for a couple of reasons, really. we were born and brought up in britain. we were aware of our indian heritage, but i don t think we really felt so deeply attached to it until we went to india and we had the opportunity to travel around india and experience that culture in all its diversity, and we really connected with that. and as part of that interest in our heritage, we also came across the style of painting called indian miniature painting, which is a very detailed, exquisite style of artwork, full of satire and symbolism and narrative.
art expression. and there was this idea of kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, that anything that s in the past, you know, we have to leave there and we have to keep moving on and creating new, diverse works. and we didn t subscribe to that at all. we believe that tradition has a value in contemporary life and we try to reflect that through our artwork. we ve always tried to maintain that there s always going to be a connection between the past and the present. you know, we are who we are today because of the history. but isn t that the case that all art, really, be it asian, african, european, contemporary art draws on the past? that s exactly. it s eclectic. that s exactly the case, but the experience that we had at university, because we were developing a style of art that was rooted in this very ancient tradition of indian miniature painting, was really looked down upon by our tutors, and they basically said it was backward and outdated and had no place within contemp
in this very ancient tradition of indian miniature painting, was really looked down upon by our tutors, and they basically said it was backward and outdated and had no place within contemporary art. and we really set out to challenge that because the course we were studying was western art, western contemporary art development. and of course, you know, it s well known that people like matisse and gauguin, picasso, were inspired by art forms outside of the western canon africa, japan, tahiti. and i think, with our work, what we wanted to do was challenge the hypocrisy of what we were experiencing. because at the same time we were being taught that the be all and end all of being an artist was this, you know, this wonderful sort of self expression. and then we were being told, well, no, you can t express yourself in that way. and you certainly can t look outside the western canon of art for your personal language. and one examiner apparently, reportedly, said, give them a 2.2, which
in our heritage, we also came across the style of painting called indian miniature painting, which is a very detailed, exquisite style of artwork full of satire and symbolism and narrative. and that was the style that we both adopted as our formal artistic language. and it was something that really set us off on ourjourney as professional artists. because originally you both wanted to become doctors, like your father, but then your artistic talent was identified quite early and he was very supportive in just letting you do what you want. ok, so you ve created a unique genre in british art, highly decorative, there s the narrative, it s very symbolic at times. you describe it with this phrase that you ve coined, past modern. what do you mean by that? well, that phrase really goes back to our days at university when we were studying combined studies degree. and as part of that,