The sole perspective of the Eleventh Edition at Galerie Sara Arakkal is to bring to fore a repertoire of expressions by well-known and upcoming artists, at the same time. The soul connect of the show, is in celebration of corporate icon Kiran Mazumdar Shaw’s two recent awards – The Othmer Gold Medal and The World Economic Price. “Kiran is the most ardent supporter of art and culture in our city. Since I know that she doesn’t like the idea of being felicitated, I dedicated our 11 Anniversary Show to her,” smiles Sara Arakkal, founder of the gallery.
Shaw is touched that this show is dedicated to her. “Yusuf Arakkal and Sara have always promoted young, upcoming artists. They’ve promoted many artists, who have gone on to become successful today,” says Shaw.
For her current show, Sara has carefully put together a repertoire of works for their merit. Exhibiting artists include Achuthan Kudallur, Adimoolam KM, Aishwaryan K, Anjoli Ela Menon, Anuradha Nalapat, Aparajithan Adimoolam, Asma Menon, Azis T.M, R.B. Bhaskaran, Bharathi Sagar, Babu Namboodri, Babu Xavier, C.F. John, Chandra Battacharjee, Devangi Sidharth, Devan Madangarli, Doddamani M.G, Gopinath S, Gurudas Shenoy, Gita, Jasu Rawal, Kanthraj N, Lalila Khan Furniturewalla, Laxman Aelay, Lokesh B.H, Mani M Mani, Mridul Chandra, Md. Rizwan, Nedunchelian D, Praveen Kumar, Prakash Nayak, Rekha Rao, Rani Rekha, Raghu S, Sidharth, Satish Sholapur, Shanthamani M, Shirley Mathew, Sandhya K Sirsi, Sultana Hasan, Sheelavanth, Seema Kohli, Thirumala Thirupathi, S.G. Vasudev, Venugopal E.K, Venugopal V.G and Yusuf Arakkal.
At this unifying art arena, Sara has been concerned about the quality of works, rather than the names. “I have also been concerned about having young as well as established artists exhibiting alongside each other,” says Sara.
For this gallerist, fusing expressions is an important aspect of curatorship. “Often, galleries prefer to exhibit only established names. Invariably, the young and talented ones are losing out. I started my gallery to address this concern,” says Sara.
Through this sustained effort, Sara feels heartened to see that over the years, several younger generation artists have evolved into highly creative, established talents. “Lots of new trends too, are being established,” says Sara, adding, “Today, paintings and sculptures rule the ground.”
Noveau expressions take us to Galerie Sara Arakkal, which is perhaps the only exclusively constructed independent gallery space in Bangalore. “It has been designed by architect Sujith Nair, who has done well to address our desire for light in the gallery and space for connoisseurs to relax and move around, while enjoying the artworks,” says Sara.
So connoisseurs take home expressions from the deepest precincts of the artists’ heart. Shaw remains heartened by this dedication and a pleasant surprise from artist Mani M Mani, who made a sketch of the icon and gifted it to her at the inaugural.
The 11 Annual Show at Galerie Sara Arakkal featuring 47 artists is on till October 30, 11 am to 7 pm
