BENGALURU: Demonetisation clearly had an effect on Sunday’s Chitra Santhe, an art fair, with sale of artworks taking a hit. Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (CKP), the organisers, had made arrangements like mobile ATMs taking into consideration the cash crunch. Artists too had made arrangements for customers to pay via Paytm and other such e-wallets.
B L Sankar, president of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath said, “The crowd was the same as last year, but, there might be a difference in sales and purchases due to demonetisation. Keeping the situation in mind, we made arrangements to tackle the cash issue.” He added, “We received 2,300 applications from artists and we selected 1,200 from 16 states. We have various forms of art on display and have both budding and established artists participating. We also have many artists who have participated in international exhibitions.”
Kumara Krupa Road was flanked by murals, sand paintings, caricatures, and sketches. Many vistors were seen getting instant portraits done by artists.
Visitors also got an opportunity to dabble with some paint and brushes as one artist allowed onlookers to paint his body.
M C Sood, a resident of Marathahalli, said, “We have been visiting Chitra Santhe for the past three years. The artworks are beautiful and it made our day. However, we did not buy anything as we had made many purchases last year.” Voicing similar opinion, Kavitha Murthy from Koramangala said, “Every piece of art brings us joy. We had a good time.”
Artists differed on how well the event went off. Chandru S Hiremath from Bangalore said, “The sale is not much compared to last year. But definitely the enquires are more.”
Srinivas, an artist from Chennai who specialises in pop art, said, “I have been participating for the past three years, but the crowd this year was less. The response is good but not overwhelming like every year. I guess this is due to demonetisation.”
Debasis Sahoo from Odisha, famous for its Pattachitra, said, “The response has been good
so far.”