Location: The side wall of Hard Rock Café, St. Marks Road
Artists: Ullas Hydoor and Arjun Srinivasan
Done and dusted. It works literally for the mural painted by Ullas Hydoor and Arjun Srinivas in March 2013. Commissioned by the swish hang-out place Hard Rock Café, the duo painted the work amidst much fanfare. The theme was third eye and the artists went on to extend it to the subject of gender. They made half of a woman’s face with fierce eyes and a bindi symbolising the third eye. Enlightened, she breaks the chain of patriarchy, gender bias and discrimination. Good idea and brilliantly executed. “While we painted the mural, a music album was launched at the venue and there was excitement around it. People were singing and dancing. Those passing by were taking pictures,” recalls Ullas, an architect and well-known street artist.
Over the years its colours have faded and so has the public interest in it. Its location — a busy junction witnessing a mayhem of traffic — which doesn’t allow one to really experience the piece has contributed to its invisibility.
Another thing with public art is its lower shelf life as compared to its counterparts in expensive frames displayed in museums and galleries. Pieces in the realm of public spaces need to change frequently in order to keep the public engaged. “It is covered with dust. I plan to go to Hard Rock Café and ask them if they want me to replace it with a new one,” says the artist who also plans to paint under some flyovers. “There are a few organisations who are painting under the flyovers but the imagery is very uniform across the city. There can be several simpler and yet interesting visual language that can come up in these places is what I want to show.”
Watch out for this space and you can contribute too by telling us if you spot anything artsy, quirky and creative in a space that is accessible to all. Write to us at artquest@thehindu.co. in with the exact location and any other details you have and we will trace it.
