JOIN USAn art marathon, said to be first-of-its kind, started at Ventakatappa Art Gallery (VAG) on Monday. Artists from different walks of life from across the state came together to showcase their works.
The event was organised with an objective to bring the artists’ community under one roof and draw the attention of state government towards the attempts being made to privatise the premier institution.
The concept is closely linked to the structure and execution of the exhibition.
Each day, the action starts at 11 am and ends at 7 pm. The day is divided into nine slots and each slot will show four to five artists at a time displaying their works for a total period of 45 minutes.
Once their time is over, another batch of four to five artists start displaying their works. Like this, the marathon runs for a whole day, the members of VAG Forum said.
Each day, 35 artists will participate for the next three days. A total of 102 artists will showcase their work at the art marathon.
The artists include international artists budding artists and experienced ones. All of them took part in the programme on the inaugural day. Meera Gyanchand, one of the artists, said: “I displayed two paintings. One focussing on nature suffering at the hands of urbanisation and the other showcasing colour discrimination among women. The response has been encouraging."
Similarly, artists Umesh Madanahalli and Osheen Gupta expressed happiness for taking part in the marathon.
Meanwhile, Pushpamala N, a member of VAG Forum, said they had earlier approached tourism department and Minister of Culture and Kannada Umashree requesting them to cancel the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the government and the Tasveer Foundation to adopt the gallery.
She added, “There has been a lot of support from public towards us which is a positive sign and we are stressing the government to cancel the MoU.”