BENGALURU: Transcending the brushes, colours and canvas, there are layers of voices and opinions that are encapsulated to reflect its importance and purpose, for to appreciate an artwork is to face an idea that has transmogrified into strokes of imagination.
It is a visual treat for visitors to not just be in awe of the artworks but know the minds and hands behind them. For artists, it is a platform to share and deliberate on their works and their plans. The exhibition organised by Art Bengaluru Collective (ABC) saw myriad works of artwork at the Rangoli Metro Art Centre. Realistic paintings, sketches, charcoal art, graphic cartoons, wildlife, nature, portraits and even minimalist images in black and white were on display at the gallery.
Spread across three galleries, 250 art pieces of 25 artists were showcased. Speaking about the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh who painted “The Starry Night”, Sameer Ahmed, an artist, said that Gogh captured the stars in small circular motions in his painting years ago. For a long time, the sun was drawn only as a circle, and stars as tiny dots in all art pieces. Years later physicists explained that stars are nothing but swirling masses of gas. It vindicates the vision of an artist which is extremely powerful. Every art has the potential to define a direction, the road not taken, and convey the words that cannot be put on paper or voiced, but embedded in an artwork.
Visitors said the art centre was the perfect place for organising the exhibition. Many said they did not even know it existed near the MG Road Metro station. R Anandkumar, a Lalithakala Academy Award winner, whose art piece was also on display at the gallery, said that visitors can view the gallery as a maidan of knowledge and information. Visitors could see multi-quotient work when they enter the gallery, an experience that Google can never offer to its users. Young people who are engrossed in their phones can understand art as something that goes beyond a hobby.
Some use art to spread social messages, some do it as a hobby, and others as a passion, Anand said.
The art exhibition will continue for three days, and will also offer an opportunity to live paint on canvases and be unfettered in expressing their thoughts. Some were even seen just playing around with colours making abstract patterns.
Another professional artist and organiser of ABC, Ranji David painted almost a thousand paintings during the pandemic. He said staying indoors actually gave him more perspective and creative freedom, especially at a time when everything stood still and the world was battling with death. He suggested that the government should build more such places for artists as the city lacks exhibitions and open spaces, which will also encourage artists to expand their horizons.