Fine pieces of art

Prominent among the items displayed are Tanjore paintings, different brass idols, bronze statues, panchaloha icons, oil lamps, artifacts, rosewood statues, carvings, artefacts, showpieces, pen stands, book stands, key chains, wall paintings, rosewood and teakwood furniture. The exhibition has everything you could pick up for
your home.  

To begin with there are saris and salwars with Lucknow chikan work. You could spot embroidered saris, kurtis, dress materials and salwar suits, Banaras saris, stoles, chiffon saris, bed linen, wall hanging, Kashmiri handwork embroidered saris, dress materials, Rajasthan bedsheets. “It is all hand-woven and the artists work on a bedsheet for two days. The work is intricate and needs a lot of attention and hard work. We have more than two artists work at a time on a long piece of cloth,” said Jahengir, a craftsman from Lucknow.   

Another stall has fashion jewellery, right from the junk variety that one often sees on the pavements to the more ethnic jewellery. There are one gram gold, semi-precious stones, wood work jewellery, bone-work neck pieces, terracotta jewellery and Orissa Filigiri work jewellery with intricate patterns.

There are artefacts carved from Kadapa stones found in Chennai. Small elephants, jewellery boxes, birds, costers... the list is endless. Kannan, who has been in the business of carving decorative pieces from these Kadapa stones said that he takes two full days to transform a piece of stone. “I use my hand and a sharp instrument, meant for carving. It’s not easy but it’s a lucrative business,” he said.

Other attractions are the murals and oil paintings, depicting temple art. “Every piece of
art has a story to tell. These paintings are used as decorative art pieces in temples. It is exclusively made for temples,” said Vinod Kumar, an artist.

Another stall had Madhubani work by Uma Kanth Thakur who has been in the business for a couple of years. “It’s something that I learnt as a young boy. Madhubani is a traditional art form that has been passed on from one generation to another,” Uma explained.

It was literally a family’s day out. While women and children went straight to the salwar, sari and jewellery section, the men prefered to hang around the brass and wooden carvings. Pramila Subash, a homemaker said, “I came here to buy the Tanjore paintings and a few saris as well. I find the pricing very reasonable.” Radhika Suresh said that she comes to this exhibition every year, “Even if I don’t buy anything, I like passing time at exhibitions like this.”

The exhibition is on till July 25 between 11 am and 9 pm.