‘Jalasparsam,’ an exhibition of paintings that began at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery in Kozhikode on Sunday, is notable for many things.
There are around 110 works by 100 little artists from Fine Arts Academy, Balussery, on display. But what is more striking is the familiarity of some of the names.
The participant artists are all students, from kindergarten classes to Plus Two, some of them already established. Most of the paintings are in watercolour.
Strike a chord
For the readers of The Hindu , the names J.S. Sheethal, N.K. Abhishek, D.P. Unnimaya, and Vighnesh Dev may strike a chord.
They have been on the winners’ list of the Kozhikode leg of The Hindu-Young World painting competition for the past few years. In fact, Sheethal is a hat-trick winner at the contest.
However, the achievements of these young artists do not end there. Akshay Shanjeev has won the first prize in water colour painting at the State School Arts Festival four times, while Sheethal has been there for three years.
Unnimaya has won first prize in a contest organised by the Union Ministry of Water Resources. Navyasree, Abhishek, T.M. Vishnu Prasad, Vinaya Sebastian, K.C. Akshay, P.P. Abhay, Kavya Muraleedharan, and a lot more rising stars have their works exhibited at the show.
Rare distinction
Ashik Rahman, Anu Aravind, Shamna Jasmin, and K. Rahul have a rare distinction — their pictures have been selected for the Children’s Day stamps issued by the State Children’s Welfare Committee. Anamika Tilak and K. Rahul have brought out their collection of poems.
The exhibition is organised as part of the 15th anniversary celebrations of the Fine Arts Academy and was inaugurated by artist Madanan on Sunday.
It concludes on May 7.