In yet another effort to stop the privatisation of Venktappa Art Gallery, artists held two interesting events on Friday to draw the attention of the state government.
Artist Paramesh Jolad made a wall painting at the Vijayanagar bus stop, showing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as being sick with band-aids pasted on his face. “Last time, we collected Rs 178 through rangoli portraits and sent a money order to the chief minister.
But it was returned from the GPO itself,” he said. “This is my way of communicating with the government. It seems the chief minister is not paying attention to our fight and remains indifferent because he is unwell.”
The 9x13-foot portrait caught the attention of motorists and pedestrians and many stopped by to enquire about it. An exhibition of historical photographs with contemporary art under the title ‘The Bangalore hunt’ was inaugurated at the gallery on Friday evening. The photographs include new creative works by artists from Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology and are sourced from a small private archive of photographs, newspaper cuttings, annotations, letters and postcards that belonged to Stephen Simon Simmons, who was posted in Bengaluru in the 1930s.
The exhibition is open till Sunday.
Published 10 June 2016, 20:26 IST