An electronic repair professional had come to fix the refrigerator of Tejendra Singh Baoni, the principal of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (CKP), the premier art college in Bengaluru. He said he knew Baoni and thus wouldn’t take money from him.
He had seen Baoni at Chitra Santhe, the popular art event organised annually by CKP since 2003. He wanted to be an artist but couldn’t and now to encourage his daughter to become one, he visits every edition of Chitra Santhe.
“It was a very touching incident. I know a lot of people, artists and gallery owners question the quality of art available at the fair but still it was a success. People who come here don't know where art galleries are. They think you need to pay to enter an art gallery,” says Baoni, adding that the fair’s role is to introduce art to people.
Chitra Santhe literally means art market and sticking to its name, the market is held on a stretch of 2 kilometres on the sidewalks of Kumara Krupa Road and - from Shivananda Circle to the Chief Minister's office - going up till Crescent Road.
About 1,200 stalls are set up at the venue that feature young artists and students. The fair is an open platform for artists all over India but it mostly gets artists from North Karnataka, Mandya, Chikamaglur, Maharashtra and Delhi. The event receives about 1,500 entries every year, but rejects 300.
“About 50 to 60 places are reserved for sudden arrivals, differently-abled artists and those coming in from far off places like West Bengal and Kashmir, who can’t be turned back on humanitarian grounds. You may not like the quality of the stuff you see here but you can’t doubt the intent behind the event. Earlier the participation was completely free. Now, as prices of everything have risen, we have started charging participants a sum of Rs. 300, which includes all three meals and accommodation for one day,” says artist H.A. Anil Kumar, who also heads the department of art history at the art school.
In the absence of a vibrant gallery scene and a tough art market, Anil describes the art bazaar to be performing a crucial role.
“I can imagine 20 artists in a remote place collectively finishing painting after painting so that they can come to the Santhe. They can’t go back without selling them. Logistics don’t allow them to go back with any of their work,” expresses Anil.
On January 14, when this writer visited CKP, it seemed to be soaked in the festive spirit of Makar Sakranti, which marks the onset of the harvest season in India.
A feast for college staff and students had just got over and the latter dressed in traditional finery were spread across the campus, having a good time. The celebrations were not for the festival. They were held to mark the success of the just-concluded Chitra Santhe.
“The State Bank of Mysore ATM here recorded about one crore transactions. Since there were huge queues at the ATMs we came to know that people travelled to nearby areas to withdraw money. So, if you talk of art market, it created that as well, without any middlemen but it is not only about money,” stresses Anil.
Chitra Santhe was the idea of D.K.Chowta, a well-known Tulu writer and general secretary of CKP. Travelling to various countries, Chowta was impressed by the concept of street art fairs for the masses. And back home, Nandan Mela at Santiniketan and Kala Ghoda in Mumbai were other motivations that led Chowta to conceive the festival. "He wanted to have an unsophisticated art fair which was open to everyone.Art galleries in Bangalore don't support it the way galleries do it in Delhi and Mumbai. One needed a platform like that."
But senior artist S.G.Vasudev doesn't agree. “As an art institution, I have immense respect for the kind of work CKP is doing but an art fair of this kind doesn't match up to its standard. I can understand if something like this was done by some random institution, a businessman but one expects a better quality fair by an art college. I am not against santhe-s but one has to promote quality art amongst people,” says the artist.
Initially Gallery Sumukha's Pramila Baid would also visit the market scouring it for young fresh talent but nothing caught her eye. And for a long time, the owner of one of the mosr respected art gallery in Bengaluru has given it a miss.
Baoni and Anil Kumar admit that quality is an issue and that the team of art school professors scrutinise the entries sent on mail. “But what is sent on mail and the actual work brought by the student differs. And at the last minute, things spiral out of control but we are trying to fix these problems. We have tried to address the problem of quality by having an exhibition of senior artists in the gallery at the same time. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, a seminal publication on contemporary Indian art,” explains Anil Kumar.
The festival is evolving and becoming a multi-disciplinary space. “This year Umesh Madanahalli came on his own and did a performative work. CKP students also did a performance piece based on Raja Ravi Varma's painting. Somebody was documenting the entire fair. A student spread a canvas on the road and asked people to dip their feet in colour and then walk over it. She later displayed the work. So, the festival is taking its shape,” says Baoni.
