CHENNAI: The 41st Annual Art Exhibition 2016, organised by the Tamil Nadu Arts and Crafts Improvement Association (TACIA) was inaugurated at the Lalit Kala Akademi. The exhibition brings together works from professional, self-taught and hobbyist artists.
“Close to 64 artists have showcased their works across a wide range of disciplines varying from acrylic and oil paintings to pencil drawings and sculptures,” said Jagadeesh, a senior painter exhibiting his work.”There are no restrictions on age, and all forms of art from contemporary and abstract to traditional forms are encouraged.” The gallery draws from a wide variety of talents. Dilip Kumar, an IT employee, who has rendered a set of paintings on Cambodian temple architecture, said that he took up painting as a hobby. Murugesan, an assistant professor at an institute for animation, says his passion for painting helps him even in his chosen profession. He also deals with graphics. Also in attendance were experts such as Sankaralingam, who insists he is himself a master of all media. He has exhibited the same artwork in three different forms, graphite, ball-point pen and colour pencil, with each taking varied amounts of time to complete.
“Oil paintings usually take eight days, graphite drawings take around three days, but the most time-consuming is drawing using ball-point pen. It takes close to 10 days because of the fine detailing that is required,” said Sankaralingam.
Senior artist Trotsky Marudu, regional secretary of Lalit Kala Akademi Palaniappan and TACIA founder B R Annapillai were present at the function. Senior artists M Rama Rao, E Vedachalam and S Subrahmaniyam where honored with the Chitrakala Rathna Award.
The exhibition will continue till July 3. A seminar on art and artists will be held on the concluding day.