Flavour of a culture

The Renaissance Gallerie is hosting Vibgior, a group show featuring eight artists from across the country, at its premises.

The exhibition features both paintings and sculptures.

The artists, who are displaying their work at this show, are Nikunja Bihari Das, Baldev Moharatha, Jayant Khan, Tarakant Parida, Narasimha Hegde, Usha Mishra, Pradosh Swain and Gyanesh R Mishra.

The show was inaugurated by Arvind Limbavali, Karnataka’s Minister for Higher Education, recently.

Kannada actor Ramakrishna was the other guest of honour.

After an invocation prayer by Madhura Hegde and the lighting of the lamp, the invited guests addressed the audience. After which the artists walked the gathering through the gallery elucidating their works.

The Minister confessed being partial to a painting by Nikunja Bihari Das. He said, “There is history in this. The concept of Amrutha and Visha is shown.”
Ramakrishna favoured an artwork by artist Pradosh Swain. He said he appreciated it for its green message.

The works on display have a certain Indian flavour, either in the choice of colours or in the interpretation of themes or choice of subject matter.

Swain, who chose to highlight the need for better environmental protection, may have been the only true exception to this.

Tarakant Parida’s interpretation of the Kamadhenu, the holy Indian cow which gave its keeper anything they desired was interesting. Among the other paintings, Usha Mishra’s Couple II, which celebrated Androgyny was also well-received.

Other than the paintings, there were sculptures by Narasimha Hegde and Gyanesh R Mishra also on display. The flying lady, a model of a woman with wings instead of hands, roused curiosity among those gathered.

The creator of the piece told the gathering that the work exemplified the inner strength of women. He said that women stood tall even when their hands had been cut of by society. The wings symbolised their courage.

Talking about the space itself, one noticed that the lights were not positioned to highlight the paintings, this sometimes caused a glare on the art work. The other
problem that one kept tripping on was the fact that some of the labels did not have the name of the work on them.

The show is on till May 29.