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Art mania at Tirupati

B. PADMA REDDY

A camp for artists creates waves in temple town.

COLOUR CORNER Artists at the camp.

Last week, the temple town of Tirupati came alive not with the floating crowd of pilgrims but by the vitality created by the four-day artists' camp. Sri Kalakshetra, working for the promotion of art, conceived the idea of an artists' camp and found a generous benefactor in Shankar Naidu of Lavanya Group, who took up the responsibility of sponsoring the camp with 40 artists representing various generations from the State to work and interact on one platform. While camps and exhibitions are a common feature in metros and cities, this curiously engaging camp, was a unique opportunity for art enthusiasts of Tirupati and the neighbouring areas. From February 11 to 14, all roads in Tirupati led to the Laxmi Narayana Kalayana Mandapam where the artists camp was in progress. The camp, as the secretary of Sri Kalakshetra, G. V. Sagar said, is an effort to allow people in all districts and small towns to experience art and the artist. Not only did the people get a glimpse of the artists working in various mediums and styles producing a wide range of works but also were introduced to world of contemporary art. It created an ideal situation for art lovers - to be introduced to new things, to clear doubts, to contemplate, to choose their choice of aesthetics and enjoy it. The most important beneficiaries of the camp were the young students of the Shilpa Kala Shala of the TTD, which offers free education in traditional painting and sculpture to a good number of youngsters. Many students felt that the camp was an eye opener to them showing them an important and unknown facet of the fine arts - the art that is happening today - the modern art. Some of the artists who participated in the camp were veterans like P.R. Raju of Hyderabad who was honoured by the organisers, G.Y. Giri, Sajid Bin Amar, Srinivsa Chary, Archana, Jayanna and Mallesham. Vijay Kumar and Usman Khan came from Guntur; Vempatapu from Tanuku; S. Jayaraman, Kiran Kumari, Ramachandriah, B Anand, I. V. Krishna Rao, Sagar, Venkatramana from Tirupati; M Ganesha Chary and K. Seetaram from Chittoor; Damodarchary from Srikalahasti were others who gave company to several other artists. Despite the variations in thoughts, modes of working, understanding and ways of looking at art and ideology, the camp progressed with great intensity and quality and working generally continued through the night into morning. The works were put up for public viewing during the valedictory function on February 14 and it is proposed to have an exhibition of the same in Hyderabad.

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