World Art Day: Unique art show at Traffic Park

Nagpur: On World Art Day on Sunday, a Kolkata-based artist group ‘Narrative Movements’, brought art out of the gallery to public places with high footfalls. Nagpur got a share of the event, which was staged simultaneously at 40 places all over the world and saw participation of 200 national and international artists, as 60 digital prints of 12”x16” dimension were displayed in the city at Traffic Park.
“This is an effort to create awareness and appreciation for art among common people,” said Ravindra Parkhi an artist and curator of the event. “This is the third edition ad the previous two were held in Navi Mumbai in a parking lot and on the roadside in Bhadravati,” Parkhi said.

Morning walkers at Traffic Park were pleasantly surprised on Sunday when they saw art prints hanging from trees, poles and other fixtures. “I learnt here that it was World Art Day and also the birthday of the great painter Leonardo da Vinci,” said Gyan Gaikwad, a morning walker. The 14 artists from Nagpur whose works were on display also held a condolence meeting for renowned artist Ram Kumar who passed away on Saturday. “People were curious to see the paintings and were also asking us about the artists,” said Pankaj Itkalwar, a lecturer at Government Art College whose work was on display.

The theme of the event was post contemporary wave and it featured works based on unconventional subjects. “There were many here who do art as a hobby and they were happy to see the works of so many artists at the same time,” said artist Mahesh Mankar. “This is like the gallery coming out to meet us, many more such events are required to create awareness,” felt art student Rohini Deo.

Visiting the event to celebrate World Art Day, Ishita Chaudhary, a professional artist, rued the fact that her work was not being featured here. “This is for the first time that I am seeing such an event and am very happy that it has happened in Nagpur. My joy is more as I personally know or recognize the works of many artists being shown here,” she said.