A free of cost exhibition by Kolkata students gets a good response. Artists applaud organising such exhibitions for selling the artwork.
The exhibition HUES-24, the art of empowerment and enlightenment, was started on March 9 has already sold three paintings made by the students of Swar Sangam.
The artists of these paintings said that this is one of the very few platforms that new age artists get to showcase their work without having to spend money. Moreover, all the money from the sold paintings reached them directly.
The exhibition showcased paintings of different themes, ranging from daily life to floral paintings, painting of mother and child, nature and animals art. These diverse art pieces were made with paints, oil pastels and pencil sketching. Each painting carried a special message.
Deepakshi, the artist of “Pure soul of Heart” made four birds in golden on a solid black background. She explained that she painted the birds in golden colour because they are pure souls and should be preserved just like gold. She said that the black colour in the background represents the souls of humans who harm the nature for their own benefits.
Shirley Matthew, the chief artist at the museum, said that the exhibition is free of cost and the idea is to promote the art and the interests of the artists. She said, “Artists these days are in a position where they don’t have access to the public. They don’t have chances to sell their art and make money, therefore a lot of people don’t want to pursue arts as a profession.”
She said that since the exhibition is free of cost, a lot of people come to participate and that’s how the purpose of exposing people to art is achieved.
Matthew said that she picked these 20 paintings out of a set of 50 paintings to curate this exhibition and the museum has a dedicated hall for such exhibitions and they have eight to nine such exhibitions every year. This three-week art exhibition is being held at MFK Museum of Art on Lavelle Road.
All the paintings in the “Hues 24” are made by the students of Swar Sangam- A Birla Institute for Visual & Performing Arts. The students here can sell these art pieces directly to the public.
Matthew added that art has become commercial and therefore has lost its essence of giving out a message. It has become a decorating item or a symbol of wealth. She said that it is because art is not easily accessible to people, it’s mostly paid, even to see a piece of art one has to pay for a ticket to enter an art gallery or a museum. The art museum has a curated private collection of art by renowned artists like Jamini Roy and MF Hussain, as well as contemporary artists.
