The city is in the midst of a minor makeover. Scaffoldings are up, cranes parked and paint containers strewn around at a few landmark spots in the city like Majestic, Cubbon Park etc. St+art Festival has now come to Bengaluru with 16 artists from India and abroad drawing on multiple narratives the city has to offer. We visited a few sites to find out what stimulations are triggering the thought process of artists.
Harshavardhan Kadam , M.G.Road, Metro Station (Entrance D, on Church Street)
This Pune-based artist known by the pseudonym of inkbrushnme is realising his largest work of his career on the 60 feet high wall of the station. A story of five kids will play out on a massive scale. "Yes people come and go in a hurry but I hope people will stop and look at the work because it is a timeless story of five characters that everybody will relate to," explains the artist, who plans to involve some children selling flowers on Church Street to complete the work.
He believes more than site-specific, his work is context specific. "People come here to have fun, eat well and celebrate. The work is going to reflect that energy. I want to have a ripple effect of the emotions portrayed in the art work."
Harsh says this is his way of adding value to our lives. "My art is not political. But, if I want to solve problems, I feel I have to create an environment for it."
This is not Harsh's first street art work in the city. Earlier on, he painted on 12th main at Indiranagar and also conducted a workshop. Harsh wants every city to be filled with colours and Pune Street Art Festival is a step in that direction. He has done 120 murals all over India till now and wants the number to keep growing.
Ullas Hydoor, Dhanvantri Road underpass
For Ullas, history is an appealing route to connect to the city. He is recreating an old 'pete' map of Bengaluru with Kempegowda's (the founder of Bangalore) face on it. On his face is shown the growing city. "It is about where we were and where we are headed to," says the Bengaluru-based artist whose works adorn several walls across the city. Being so close to the railway bridge, the work poses a lot of challenges to Ullas and his team. "Every time a train goes, up there on the scaffolding, I feel bit nervous. But it has his positives. The traffic will stop every time a train comes and passers-by have those 3-4 minutes to look at the work. I want people to have colours in their life. The city is on an angry mode."
Poornima Sukumar, Dhanvantri Road underpass
Right opposite Ullas Hydoor is Poornima Sukumar continuing to engage with transgenders. A gigantic face which could be of a woman or a man is coming up accompanied with text 'Naanu Iddivi' (We exist). Poornima has done several community art projects across the city and of late has been occupied with transgender community. Earlier this year, she along with a few transgenders painted in K.R.Market. Called Aravani Art Project, Poornima has taken it to Mumbai and Chennai. On Sunday, she plans to get a few transgenders to help her finish the wall. If you are anywhere nearby, do go to take a look.
Appupen, inside Kempegowda Metro Station, Majestic
Another local artist who is drawing on the history of the city. Some commuters stop by to tell him that he isn't using enough colours or the work shoild have more traditional motifs. A few are very happy to identify Kempegowda on one of the pillars and point it out to each other. "We really don't know how Kempegowda looked like. I found some old pictures where at one place he has been depicted almost like Buddha, elsewhere he had these really huge moustaches," says the artist who read up on myths and stories associated with the area. From being a scenic place boasting the Dharmabuddhi Lake called 'jeeva kere' (lifeline of the city) to a political space for rallies - Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru gave a speech ther in 1931 - and finally a transport hub, the area has seen multiple transformations. Fascinated with this, Appupen has come up with an imagery that blends all of this on a number of pillars inside the station.
The lion of the Hoysala dynasty, the famous story of Kempegowda's dog being chased away by a hare, the present day chaos and the futuristic city make up this expression in a colour palette influenced by the BMRCL logo. Above the ticket counter, the artist plans to paint the entire timeline of the area.
Some fine details about the festival
As for other artists, Sameer Kulavoor and Guesswho have also started working on their pieces. While Sameer is doing the exterior wall of Kempegowda Metro Station in Majestic, Guesswho's graffiti has started to appear on Church Street. Anpu is expected to begin her work any time soon and so is Siddhartha Kararwal.
On October 16, a workshop on stencil techniques, street art techniques, stickers and sign painting, will be held followed by St+art hackathon, talk and a screening on Cubbon Park on October 22.
The festival is an initiative by St+ Art India Foundation of Delhi and supported by Asian Paints. “In the tenure of the association with St-Art foundation for the last three years in Mumbai and Delhi, we have worked on various street art projects across the two cities with a mutual hope to make art more accessible to the public. We support the foundation and the artists and are extremely proud to be associated with this initiative. We believe this will bring a change and transform the cityscape drastically through art,” says Amit Syngle, President-Sales, Marketing & Technology, Asian Paints Ltd.
The festival is being hosted by Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. The artists are being helped by students of Srishti in their works.
