The upcoming Indian Premier League will witness an artistic flourish, especially during matches involving the Delhi Daredevils team, which has got together a clutch of celebrated and upcoming artists to capture the diverse and vibrant spirit of the game and its players.
Custom-built large-sized 5 inch cricket bats, each painted in different styles by 15 artists are set to be exhibited at the various IPL match venues as well as other places like the airport before being finally auctioned off.
"Batting for Art...Khelo Front Foot Pe" initiative by the Delhi Daredevils includes a suite of works of artists Binoy Varghese, Chintan Upadhayay, Dileep Sharma, Farhad Husain,
Jayasri Burman, Kanchan Chander, Khem Vaishnav, Neeraj Goswami, Paresh Maity, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Satish Gupta, Seema Kohli, Sidharth, Thota Vaikuntam and Yusuf Arakkal.
A desktop calendar documenting the works of art would also be bought out.
The funds raised in the auction of the works and a dinner GMR Sports, owners of Delhi Daredevils IPL franchise, are set to support the Arts for All Residency Programme and its other initiatives.
"To create a build up for the finale, the creations will be displayed at the marquee in Feroz Shah Kotla when the team plays its home games and other locations including the airport.
"The idea is to make this exhibition popular and to reach a larger audience. The finale will be a high-profile event that would include a gala dinner in New Delhi in the presence of the artists and players," says organisers.
While artist Paresh Maity celebrates cricket using his signature vibrant, rich, linear colours along with stylised figures and motifs of birds etc, Binoy Varghese uses his trademark colourful foliage to reflect the rich and colourful game of cricket.
Chintan Upadhyay has titled his creation "Hit The Ball" styling his signature baby icons "Chintu" in a playful and enthusiastic stance.
Farhad Hussain decorates the cricket bat with fun-filled kitchish work and Kanchan Chander in her forte style has painted the players in action using mixed media embellishing the team members as well as their fans and sponsors in the vibrant colours of the team logo.