Art in the right place

Indian artists put up a grand show for the CWG.

The air of triumphalism pervading the capital — now that everyone seems to have decided to overlook the controversies until the Games are over — seems to have touched the visual arts sphere as well with 12 of the city’s major galleries and the Noida-based Kiran Nadar Museum of Art coming together to put up a fortnight-long show titled “Art Celebrates 2010: Sports and the City”.

There will be 120 works by 120 artists — a mix of modern eminents such as Ram Kumar, Kishen Khanna and Anjolie Ela Menon, established contemporaries such as Rameshwar Broota, the Dodiyas and upcoming artists Aparup Mukherjee, Balaji Ponna and Viky Arya. Most of the works are new, says curator Rupika Chawla, who put together the show in five months flat. “The theme suggested to artists was aspects of Delhi or of sport or general cityscape.”

Large hoardings of the paintings at the show will be put up at Metro stations, at the Apollo Hospital, and outside government buildings such as the Planning Commission, NGMA and IGNCA. “Making art public” is the aspect that Chawla says she finds most exciting about the endeavour. These will be auctioned off after the show and the proceeds used to create a welfare fund for impoverished artists.

(“Art Celebrates 2010...” will show at the Lalit Kala Akademi till October 15)