A day for art and artists

Art Mart, held last Sunday, was designed to host artists in a public space.

When over 5000 people visit an art exhibition over an 8-hour period, it does say something about how people relate to art when it comes to being in a public space.

That is what happened at the first edition of Art Mart which was held at Nageswara Rao Park in Luz on a recent Sunday.

All through the day and post-dusk, people streamed into the park and walked from one end to the other, tracing the ‘U’ and ‘S’ layout for the artists designed by the hosts as open-air stall spaces.

At dawn, the park was resounding to the music of bhajans as Sundaram Finance hosted its monthly ‘mike-less’ concert in the Chess Square. By then, the first lot of artists had reported at the desk and slowly begun to set up stalls. The spaces were informal and minimal. A table and a chair and wires strung across poles.

The Art Mart in Mylapore.

Children captivated by the pictures on display.

By 8 that morning, most stalls had been set up and the walkers in the park, slowed down to take in the visual treat.

Local resident Nagarajan had already bought a painting. “We need to encourage artists and that will happen only if we buy a painting,” he said.

The artists were there primarily to showcase their works. Artists included Reshmi Gopinath, Ravi Macanzi, Manavalan and Jothi, Saraswathy and Dhivya …25-year-olds and 55-year-olds. And at one corner were six school children from P.S. Senior, Vidya Mandir and Sir Sivaswami Kalalaya.

The stream of visitors began to pick up later that morning. Many were at an art show for the first time. It was obvious that these were not the kind of people who knew art galleries existed nor had they got an opportunity to feast on paintings.

Well-known artist Trotsky Marudu came by and took time to visit the stalls of many artists and chat with them. He made their day. Later, artist and cartoonist Keshav Venkataraghava also came by and interacted with the artists, stopping to admire the works of even the school students.

In the evening, the veteran artist and illustrator Maruthi visited. He said he was overjoyed to see the open-air show. “You have opened the gate to a new space for many young artists. This is something that must happen again and again,” said Maruthi as K. Rajamaran presented him the caricature he had done of the man whose illustrations have appeared in a variety of Tamil magazines.

For an event that was born on an early January weekend evening, and out of the blue – an idea suggested by two city artists who took part in the hugely popular Chitra Santhe (art market) held in Bangalore every year – the response from the local artist community was quick and eager.

“I didn’t expect to get orders worth thirty thousand rupees,” said one senior artist.

“I sold four works and I am happy with this,” said another.

The sales may not have been hot and steady. But Art Mart was more to do with hosting such a show in a public, community space.

Going by feedback, visitors and artists seem to have liked the Art Mart idea. Said artist Chandra Dobriyal, “I had a good experience here, with lots of positive and critical suggestions from art enthusiasts. The park setting was cool.”

Young Aarthi Rao, a practising doctor who paints in the late hours of the day, was excited. “This is my first time at an exhibition and I am super excited with the reactions of people.”

Art Mart allowed people to just stop and look closely at works of art and talk to the artist.

“The interaction is useful. We want people to talk to us,” said artist Reshmi Gopinath, who took a break and helped run two painting contests for children, on the sidelines.

As the floodlights bathed the art stalls after dusk, more people streamed into the park but it was not overcrowded, so people could go around at their own pace.

Said Ganapathy Subramaniam, part of the core Art Mart host team and an artist himself, “The vibes from most artists were very positive. Even the seniors who came by said such a show is needed.”

Artists who wish to keep connected with the Art Mart community can sign up on its Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/artmartchennai/. (Courtesy: Mylapore Times).

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