Meet Akshay Thakur, the ArtNow 2019 winner of Best in Show for his mixed media piece America Behind Bars. Akshay attended Prospect High School in Saratoga and graduated in 2020. He now attends UC Berkley and is double majoring in Economics and Data Science. Art is still a big part of his life. In this blog post, Akshay shares what it was like to be a part of ArtNow and how it has impacted his life and art practice.
At the start of the 2018/19 school year, New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU) invited Santa Clara County high school students to DARE themselves to create an original work that speaks to this definition:
to have the necessary courage or boldness for something; be bold enough
to have the boldness to try; venture; hazard
to meet defiantly; face courageously
to challenge or provoke (a person) into a demonstration of courage; defy
Over 900 high school art students rose to that challenge and submitted artworks for juried selection in the 8th Annual ArtNow Exhibition, DARE. The exhibition included the work of 77 student artists.
"Really great art tells a bigger story, it has a broader message that makes it more significant.”
"I was really thinking about the significance we put on symbols of America, like the flag, and the national anthem, and how sometimes the symbolism becomes more important that the actual values that those symbols represent."
“The subjects that I depict have become more personal to me. The ways in which I depict them have more personal meaning to me, and a lot of times cultural meaning, which is something I’ve started to do more and more since ArtNow.”
"Honestly, the ArtNow program is kind of what kick started my journey into art practice, and taking it more seriously, and thinking about how art can be a bigger part of my life."
Akshay Thakur, America Behind Bars, Mixed Media, ArtNow 2019 Best in Show
Artist Statement: “The flag is a symbol of America in all of its glory and greatest triumphs. Yet its beauty extends beyond red, white, and blue—it represents liberty, including the right to free speech and protest, even if expressing that means daring to desecrate the very flag itself. This piece was intended to serve as a reminder that the flag should never come before the people and values it represents, for doing so puts America behind bars.”
“It’s important to know your worth and the value of your art.”
It’s never too late. Even if you’re in your second to last, or last year of High School, or even if you’re an adult and you feel you might enjoy doing art. Go for it! There’s no harm in trying even if you feel the time has passed. It’s never too late to start.”
Posted by Michèle Jubilee, NUMU’s Education Programs Manager
