There hasn’t been anything of its sort in Chennai in nearly three decades. National Art Week, which concludes today, saw senior Indian artists from across the country come together and four iconic cultural institutions — Lalit Kala Akademi, Kalakshetra, Cholamandal Artists’ Village and DakshinaChitra — join hands in a unique celebration of art.
“It was an attempt by the Lalit Kala Akademi to unite the different cultural and art institutions in the city,” said Rm. Palaniappan, regional secretary of the Lalit Kala Akademi. “Generally, we all tend to function separately, but this time everyone accepted the proposal without hesitation.”
From January 18 onwards, camps in print-making, sculpture, painting and ceramics were conducted at the four institutions, with the artists of each visiting one another at the different locations and interacting with young, up-and-coming artistes of the city as well.
“Most of us work in the isolation of our studios, so this sort of opportunity to interact not only with artists in our own field but from others too was fantastic,” says Manisha Bhattacharya from New Delhi, who participated in the ceramic camp at Lalit Kala. “To suddenly be part of camps with artists I had grown up idolising, such as K. Laxma Goud or Dakshinamoorthy, was an honour.”
For Akhilesh, the renowned indian painter from Bhopal, it was almost like an “exchange programme.” “It was a chance to see, discuss our personal ways of looking at art, and learn from the way others work,” says the senior artist who was part of the painting camp conducted at DakshinaChitra. “I was particularly keen to look at the work of young artists in the city, and visited the group at Lalit Kala. What was interesting was the independence of their identity and the diversity of their expression, in spite of working together.”
This year also saw the Lalit Kala Akademi’s private collection of artworks from five years of camps and workshops in the region on display at their premises. The exhibition, concluding today, features a gorgeous collection of paintings, ceramics, sculptures and graphics in a variety of styles reflective of different regional schools and the artists’ own personal visions. A brilliant mix of colours, textures and media, this collection truly serves as a compendium of creativity for the region.
Looking ahead, Lalit Kala Akademi hopes to make National Art Week an annual event, not only in Chennai but in other cities as well, as a nationwide celebration of art and creativity. “In addition, we want to extend the format to include the city’s art galleries and the corporations that support art, and add symposiums, curated exhibitions and retrospectives of senior artists to the roster of events,” says Palaniappan.