I learned about the artist Nek Chand this year thanks to my daughter.
He’s got a page in this lovely book of hers called “In an Artist’s Garden”
Here he is:
Chand was the was the creator of the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, a 25-acre environment in northern India that contains more than 2,000 statues.
What I found most fascinating though, was that he begun this art project in secret.
He started in 1958. After taking on a job as part of the huge reconstruction of Chandigarh – overseen by Le Corbusier. But Chand didn’t share Le Corbusier’s desire to create the perfect city by destroying everything that came before it.
Instead, he chose to secretly build a monument to the natural world—and to the gods he believed created it—from the recycled discards of “progress.” I have to say, on a personal level I’m torn here. As a huge fan of Le Corbusier, I think his Chandigarh projects are utterly incredible…
Nevertheless, back to Chand’s noble mission to turn waste into beauty, the outsider artist used broken crockery, iron foundry clinker, electric plug moulds, fluorescent tubes, bicycle frames, bottles, glass bangles, shells, cooking pots and smashed up bathroom fittings to create his own private wonderland in the forest.
He managed to keep it under wraps for about 15 years, until it was discovered by the city authorities. This put him in an awkward position as he had been building illegally on city land in an area under strict control, plus he was a city employee to boot.
Destruction seemed inevitable, but eventually enough support was garnered for it to be saved, and it was officially inaugurated in 1976 under city control.
Chand was relieved of his duties as a city worker, given a salary to direct the project full time, and was provided with 50 labourers to take it into new realms!
He was able to add to his figures of queens and courtiers, beggars and ministers, schoolchildren, revellers and dancers, monkeys, elephants and camels that were set in different chambers linked by low arches and covered in mosaic.
His new team added hundreds of strange-shaped rocks installed in meandering lanes, two huge waterfalls, deep gorges, rushing streams, a model Punjabi village, an amphitheatre and a colonnade of giant swings.
Today, Chand’s Rock Garden, as his oasis is known, is the second most popular tourist destination in India, after the Taj Mahal with more than 5,000 visitors a day cramming into what was once a secret Shangri-La.
Secret for Ad’s Sake
This is a quote from the journalist and documentarian Adam Curtis.
He said it on a couple of podcasts a few years back, and it has always stuck with me:
The most radical thing you could do today is to do something extraordinary and not tell anyone you've done it.
Not write a book about it, not put it on Instagram, not tell your friends. Just do something really really extraordinary, and not let anyone know you've done it.
It is incredibly hard to acheive this as a creative person.
It is bascially impossible to do this in advertising, as we are essentially a megaphone for marketing departments – that is our job.
But great products and great brands have often been able to thrive on pure reputation alone.
Quiet luxury, the IYKYK approach to marketing.
Some never have to advertise because it has been done already for them, people just know the name, know the goods, they just need to have the experience for themselves.
Which is why I found it kind of a bummer that this got released the other day:
Katz’s Deli doesn’t need a traditional advert, right?
This has been doing a job for them for decades:
Well that, and this:
Katz’s has built up such a reputation, that it remains a constant staple for most people who visit and love NYC – and yet there it is, an ad for their delivery business.
You know who else doesn’t advertise?
Here’s a spicy challenge for 2025:
Do something creativly extraordinary – and tell no-one 🤫
Thanks for reading,
Like, comment and subscribe etc!
Jonathan ✌️
Links for Ad’s Sake
🗺️ Local Map powered by Wikipedia
🖋️ I can’t stop watching this
🥾 Boomers going hiking
🎼 When comedians make music
🔫 A history of duelling
💣 The reality of a nuclear wasteland