Art Park is another unique event which is part of the city's cultural calendar. A clutch of artists gather on the first Sunday of every month at Sculpture Garden in the Ravindra Kalakshetra. They paint, sketch, discuss and sell their works in a bid to reach out to the masses. A regular occurrence since 2014, the second edition of Art Park comes in with some new elements.
Though Art Park is essentially about visual arts, this time it is being infused with poetry. Prathibha Nandakumar, well known poet will be reading her poems at the event. “We realised that this is an opportunity for people to see as many forms of art. So, we are starting with poetry but we will include theatre, music. An artist can come and speak about his/her field for 35-40 minutes,” says senior artist S.G.Vasudev.
Another interesting aspect of this art park is that more than 35 women artists will assemble at the venue. They will be provided with five drawing sheets. They are free to paint or draw. Each drawing will then be sold for Rs.1000. An initiative by Bangalore-based contemporary artists, the idea is to enable artists and the public to engage in critical conversations that can help lay people develop a deeper understanding of art and artists .
“The process of selecting the artists is democratic. We have a committee which changes every year. For each event, different committee members suggest the names of artists to be featured in the event. We have also seen an interest amongst people to have it in different localities. Maybe we could have Art Park on the third Sunday of the month in a different locality.”
This edition of Art Park is organized by Bangalore Art Foundation with financial support from the Department of Kannada and Culture, Government of Karnataka.
(Art Park Bengaluru will take place on February 5 at Ravindra Kalakshetra)