Santanu Borah, Author at Abirpothi

Picasso said “Good artists copy, great artists steal” Here is Why HE WAS WRONG & WHY

Featured, Opinion Feature / July 7, 2026

Picasso was wrong. Or maybe he was being cheeky when he famously proclaimed that “great artists steal”. Yes, Picasso doesn’t just speak. He proclaims. The full quote attributed to him goes: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” However, art historians have confirmed beyond doubt that Picasso didn’t proclaim that, though he did proclaim a lot […]

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Who will Ban the Kama Sutra? The Indus Valley Dancing Girl Deserves Justice

Opinion Feature / June 18, 2026

Do you realise that our schoolchildren are exposed to a lot of trash they should be kept safe from? It is a no-brainer, really. The education department of our nation seems to revel in petty changes that do more damage than good. Right now, the focus is on a small 4,500-year-old Dancing Girl statue from

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Hello Miss, you look like a million dollars at 100!

Uncategorized / May 2, 2026

Mario Miranda’s world is a 100 years old, and everyone is still as fresh as a daisy Written by Santanu Borah Miss Nimbupani is 100 years old. And she hasn’t aged a day. She is as glam as she was, and she still gives the side-eye when ignored. Obviously, you cannot ignore her. She can

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AI, Art Making and the Imperfectionism of Being Human

Editor's Pick, Featured / December 23, 2025

“The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.” — Sydney J. Harris I asked ChatGPT to act as an art professor and tell me what kind of art, in its opinion, AI couldn’t make. This is what it said in a

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This is not a motivational piece on art

Editor's Pick, Opinion Feature / December 15, 2025

…That’s why it’s worth a read Ever since I was a boy, I would bicycle around my little town, Tezpur, with my watercolour pack and cheap papers, looking for subjects that would make thrilling landscapes. Cole Park was my favourite muse. It is dotted with various types of foliage, a large pond and a stone

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Why the celebrity cult of art must go

Columns / August 25, 2025

After Adrien Brody juiced the Oscars with The Brutalist, he made a $400 million splash with his version of Pop art, essayed through his canvases of, most notably, a Marilyn Monroe that has been in popular Western cultural consciousness since the wild Sixties. The Brutalist—if you have watched it carefully—you are definitely aware that it

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Drawing Life: The Many Moods of Mario Miranda

Artist Profile / May 21, 2025

How Mario Miranda inked everyday chaos with wit and warmth When I think of Mario Miranda as a journalist first, I am bound to consider the fact that without the hustle and bustle of Bombay, Mario would not have become what he is. Many of the characters imagined by him through caricature carry healthy dollops

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All Rise! The Real Super Mario is in The House

Artist Profile / May 9, 2025

I think it was somewhere in 1982 when I first saw Mario Miranda in an old Illustrated Weekly of India. Those of you quizzically looking around in your memory for the “file,” like desi babus in file-filled offices—upon whom Mario bestowed a mythical status—well, you weren’t born then, and you missed out on a lot

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Oliviero Toscani: The Maverick Who Gave Advertising a Conscience and Turned It Into Art

Artist Profile, Obituary / January 16, 2025

Advertising Now Advertising is boring. Mostly. Very few people look at an advertisement and go, “Wow, now that’s how I want to tell my truth!” If you said this in the society of the art cognoscenti, you are putting yourself up for some easy ridicule. At least, that is how it is with most of

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How the Banana Became the Biggest Solo Act in Art and Ended in Disgrace

Columns / December 4, 2024

The banana by itself is a good fruit. It provides quick energy. It is a beloved of those who like to diet. However, in the world of art, the banana has attained mythical status. The controversy around the banana as a symbol has enlivened many conversations around the world. Even more than that sculpture which

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