JOIN USArt is known to be a wonderful medium. More so, when it comes to making a noise. The art fraternity in Bengaluru has been an active lot, pushing the limits of their creativity and directly bringing the spotlight on issues, when all else fails.
Installation artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy recently drew attention to a gaping hole on Castle Street near Shoolay Circle with his depiction of ‘tandoori chicken’ on a grill.
“I noticed this worn out manhole cover where the metal rods were clearly visible. I painted a piece of thermocol and placed it over that. There was no title given to it and the interpretation was left to people’s imaginations. Each one could interpret it differently in their own way. The main thing was to point out the civic issue at hand, especially to the authorities in the city,” says Baadal.
There are many other artists, like Baadal, who are exposing the numerous civic issues and environmental concerns in the city with a stroke of their brush or in their own unique style. Suresh Kumar G, a performance artiste and curator who works in public spaces, curated an interesting project titled ‘080’ sometime back which, he says, worked really well.
“Artist K T Shivaprasad created four huge paper bags. Him and his team of artists got inside the bags to move around City Market. They were free to roam around there as per their wish. The focus was on avoiding plastic and using handmade paper bags as well as recycling. I organised the whole thing and it was an interesting exercise,” details Suresh.
As a part of the same project, another artist, Ranjana, dressed up as an eagle, with wings attached to her arms. “Apparently, an eagle crashed into a speeding vehicle and died on the City Market flyover. To bring that to light, Ranjana walked from one end of the flyover to another, highlighting the sad incident,” expresses Suresh.
“As artists, we have a lot of creative freedom and there is much that we can do with that. The onus is upon us to use it in the right way and bring out issues that affect and influence everyone as and when it is possible. I was really happy and proud to be associated with this creatively engaging project and hope to associate with more such fulfilling endeavours in the future,” he adds.