Bonanza of sculpture for CoP-II

Plumes of stone dust rising and settling on heads, shoulders, and nose-bridges, sound of machinery grating on the ears, and a landscape marked by boulders, gigantic cranes and makeshift shanties, do not constitute part of a very inspiring environment for an artist.

However, for participants in the International Sculpture Symposium- 2012 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, inspiration comes from within. And so they sat to work on the blocks of red sand-stone, marble, and limestone, breaking them, drilling them, and chipping them off, finally to bring them to the shape that ignited their imagination.

Exquisite pieces

Organised with support from GHMC ahead of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CoP-11), the symposium which began on August 8 will see, by its conclusion on September 6, 15 exquisite pieces of sculpture to be installed at various locations in the twin cities.

The participants ranged from home-based artists to those from the other end of the world. Of the 15 artists, seven are from countries such as New Zealand, Turkey, Egypt, Serbia, Japan and Italy. Of the remaining, two are from Hyderabad, and one from Visakhapatnam. The rest arrived from Baroda, Jammu, Chennai, Udaipur and Bhopal.

“I loved the country. There is so much variety, and so much contrast, that it hits you in the face,” beamed Renate Verbrugge from New Zealand who is in the city for the first time in her life. She is working on an abstract concept of a couple which she chooses to call ‘Mind, Body and Soul’.

Right opportunity

The symposium is an opportunity to interact with fellow sculptors from different locations across the globe, she feels.

Most of the concepts, yet to be established in stone, are related to the main theme, that is biodiversity. Bhupesh Kawadia from Udaipur, for example, is depicting a window with a cloud passing through it, with profusion of vegetation underneath.

Rajendra Tikku, an unassuming sculptor from Jammu and Kashmir, carves tablets encoding distant history in some cryptic language. Tablet generates a feeling of time passing over the surface, of the “presentness of the past”, and hence apt for representing cultural heritage, he explains.

Maria Grazia Collini from Italy depicts the energy of the earth going heavenwards, to symbolise the hope that the conference will step up the evolution of mind.

Perhaps the only piece that has taken any discernible form is that of Hari Prasad from Visakhapatnam. He carves a human figure doubling up to offer a sapling to the world.

All the figures are being carved in stone, and will be installed in select locations en route the conference venue, informed Robin David a participant and convenor of the symposium.

The locations include HICC, ORR junction at Gachibowli, entrance of the Balayogi stadium, Shilparamam Junction, Kothaguda Zen Garden, KBR Park Junction, Raj Bhavan Road, Sant Nirankari Junction, Raod No.1, Banjara Hills, MLA Colony, Opposite Assembly, Near Afzalgunj Bus-stop, Old Begumpet Airport, SBH Campus, and GHMC Head Office.