Birthdays celebrations are incomplete without cakes. However, CSN Patnaik, an artist hailing from Guntur, likes something more colourful. Each year his family organises an art exhibition on his birthday. Patnaik recently turned 93 years old.
“We have been doing this from the last six years. This is a good way for his friends to stay in touch with him,” shares Ravi Shankar Patnaik, his son who is a faculty of Fine Arts Department, Andhra University.
The veteran artist has mastered metal casting, drawings, watercolours and oil painting. But CSN Patnaik’s journey as an artist wasn’t a planned one. When he was 23 years old Patnaik used to work as village administrative officer in Guntur. He was an avid painter and would display his artwork in the village. On one such occasion, a government officer, impressed by works, encouraged Patnaik to enrol in the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, in the 1940s.
The four-day exhibition at MVP Colony is curated by Sandhya Shankar Patnaik. It has art works of etching, printing making, woodcut paintings and sculptures. Prominent artists such as V Ramesh, Sistla Srinivas, D Simhachalam, Kattakuri Ravi, T Jagadeesh, Nikhon Nidhi, V Prasanth, Manda Srinivas, B Neelavani and D Ravi Tejas displayed their works.
One of the most intriguing work was a woodcut painting of Mahatma Gandhi examining a cow with a stethoscope by T Jagadeesh. Manda Srinivas, a sculptor who likes to make face moulds using bronze and fibreglass, says, “I learnt about sculpture making during my graduation. We often studied Patnaik’s works.”
Venue: Patnaik Art Gallery
Date: Till December 9, 10 am to 6 pm
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