A unique art camp, titled “Stroke by Stroke IV”, staged recently in Rajasthan, unravelled the mystic effect of the State's countryside. Renowned masters painted and created art works on the outskirts of Jaipur for “Eternity”, a special museum collection to be hosted by Gallery ArtChill at the Amber Fort near Jaipur.
What added flavour to the excitement in the environs of Hotel Le Meridien in Kukas was the coinciding of the birthday of renowned painter Jatin Das with the camp. There was a birthday party for the master artist marking the beginning of the celebrations at the four-day camp. The artists who participated included Jai Zharotia, Niren Sen Gupta, Dharmendra Rathore, George Martin, Laxman Gaud, Anjani Reddy, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Shivprasanna, Vinod Sharma, Charan Sharma, Nimisha Sharma and Dileep Sharma, besides Surendrapal Joshi, P.N.Choyal and Akash Choyal from Rajasthan.
The artists, locating their canvasses in the verandah, the garden under the sky and in the wilderness, painted and drew even as they interacted with art-lovers and students from the city. “The interaction was good. A lot of youngsters sought guidance as well as watched us painting and creating,” said Surendrapal Joshi, a noted muralist who works on mixed art material. Joshi made the recent fire at the Indian Oil Corporation depot near Jaipur the theme for his painting.
Encouraging situation
According to Joshi, the camp heralded the good times for art in Jaipur as many of the private art galleries which have come up in the city have started doing good business of late. “There are at least half a dozen of them doing well. An encouraging situation for artists is emerging,” he noted.
The creations, displayed on the last day of the camp, when the former ruler of Jaipur Bhawani Singh graced the occasion, are proposed to be put up at an exhibition in Paris. There are 20 works by 18 artists. They will be displayed at Le Meridien in Delhi and in Paris Meridien. “They will all come back to my gallery as they are not for sale,” said Sangeeta Juneja, director of ArtChill and Juneja Art Gallery, Jaipur.
The camp was part of the cultural partnership between Gallery ArtChill and Le Meridien. Ashwani Nayar, general manager of Le Meridien, Kukas said the initiative was under “The Unlock Art” project of the hotel, created under the direction of Le Meridien Cultural Curator Jerome Sans.
