Stadium in Khammam with Kobe Bryant’s mural opened

HYDERABAD: MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao inaugurated an indoor basketball stadium at Pavilion Grounds in Khammam on Sunday.

The district, which has produced several talented basketball players including N Ravi and K Srinivas Raju, will now be known for its 40-feet-high three-dimensional (3D) painting of late basketball icon Kobe Bryant.

Hyderabad-based artists, Vijay and Swati, who have made multiple graffiti and murals at different parts of the city, were roped in to paint Bryant’s mural at the indoor stadium.

Vijay and Swati, who have received appreciation for giving an artistic makeover to the government schools and hospitals in Telangana’s villages, took more than five days to create the painting. It was completed on Friday.

Swathi, who hails from Khammam, said that the mural was a tribute to the basketball player, who had recently died in a helicopter crash in the USA. Speaking on the occasion, Vijay said, “While many people don’t consider wall painting an art, unlike those on canvas, this medium can reach out to more people.
Kobe Bryant will be remembered by the people for years.”

Swati and Vijay are wielding their paintbrush to give a facelift to several walls of flyovers, government hospitals and schools, that were earlier covered with posters and other publicity material.

TS govt wants more art on walls
Amazed by the artists previous work in various parts of Hyderabad, the State officials want more city walls to be painted with colourful art, as it enlivens the old buildings