JOIN USA showcase of historically significant pictures and present-day art were displayed recently at ‘The Bangalore Hunt’ at Venkatappa Art Gallery on Kasturba Road. It consisted of innovative as well as artistic expressions of artists who are a part of the Srishti Institute of Art and Design.
Yashas Shetty, Matt Lee, Suresh Kumar, Amitabh Kumar, Raghavendra Rao, Aditi Banerjee, Smriti Mehra, Arnab Basu, Abhishek Hazra, Rakhi Peswani, Pooja Kaul and Leslie Johnson are the artists who participated in the exhibition and Alison Byrnes and Ayisha Abraham were the co-coordinators.
Says Alison, “Each of our participating artists has unveiled his or her original performances and creativity in order to spark life into a historically relevant collection. The displays are founded on the archives of pictures and postcards that were owned by Simon Simmons. He was stationed in Bengaluru in the 1930s. The archive was idle and instead of depositing it, we decided to display it.”
The opening reception included artistic performances like a monologue and a story telling with images in the auditorium.
The monologue was undertaken by Abhishek Hazra and the story telling was presented by Suresh Kumar.
Alison adds, “The art programme has been brought back in Srishti and with this exhibition, we want to emphasise on art.”
People were seen strolling through and appreciating the works on display. A large audience had gathered, some of them were students, a few elders and families.
Rachel, from the UK, states, “I can’t help but admire the work. I’d love to revisit the gallery in the next two days and have a deeper look at it. I’m frankly quite awestruck by the pictures.”
Stephanie, accompanied by her family, adds, “I thoroughly enjoyed examining the work. The themes of the hound dogs and the effect of colonisation on India struck a deep chord. A big thumbs up from my side.”