Imagine if your office turned into an art gallery displaying prints of masterpieces from museums across the world, which are on your bucket list? Even if they don't, you surely wouldn’t mind some aesthetics celebrated the world over, to beautify your work space.
Abstract or figuratives, landscapes or still life, Vincent Van Gogh or MF Husain - Narendra Desirazu’s Jennard Galleries in Vyalikaval offers a wide variety of prints on rent or for sale.
“And when companies sign a one-year contract, we go and change the paintings every four months. Framing, hanging, logistics is all taken care of by us,” says Desirazu about his art enterprise.
Works are printed on high quality vinyl which are accompanied by plaques describing the work, its main feature and the year it was created. “When people read these descriptions, they start to connect with the work,” explains Desirazu, a former IT professional. The rental charges for these prints vary from ₹ 650 to ₹ 850 per work.
The 3,000-strong collection on offer feature prints of 500 well-known paintings such as Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Nights’ Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Monalisa’ Claude Monet’s ‘Waterlilies’ , and from India there is Jamini Roy’s ‘Teen Pujarin’ Raja Ravi Varma’s ‘Galaxy of Musicians’ and MF Husain’s ‘Mother Teresa’ to name a few. Desirazu says, he takes due permissions from museums to print these works. “I look for public domain paintings because several museums publish these public domain paintings and make it available. I then source it from the museum. I also buy from publishers in Europe.”
Desirazu lived in the US for a few years before he shifted back to India in 2003. He travelled and visited a lot of museums in Europe while he was abroad, which fuelled his interest in art. “But more than that, I observed how Indian IT professionals when in US, generated a lot of patents but back home, we struggle to get any patents. Israel comes up with far more patents than us. Why have we ceased to be creative? Why we don't connect with art especially when we have such a rich history? Why and how have we forgotten? All these questions and observations set me thinking.”
Following which, Desirazu established Jennard Galleries in 2013. A unique idea, it has few takers and Microsoft, which has taken 100 paintings from Desirazu is one of them. “It is not easy to convince corporates about something like this which is why I started approaching schools as well. Out of 150 schools, I approached, around 15-20 signed up. There also, we change paintings every four months and if anything breaks, I replace it free of cost. I do free workshops and have also designed a year-long art curriculum.”
Now, expanding his business, Desirazu is approaching hotels to buy or rent out the prints. “While this is commercial, on the charity side, I have also given works to an old age home at a much lower cost.”
Amongst the works which are high in demand are ‘Starry Nights’, ‘Monalisa’ and Monet’s paintings. “But I also put Jamini Roy's ‘Three Pujarins’ whenever possible. Sometimes if the HR is knowledgable about art, they give us specific demands like they want impressionistic or surrealistic work or we suggest art works keeping in mind space and other factors."
(Prints can be bought and rented from Jennard Galleries at 170/28, 14th Cross, 4th Main, Vyalikaval )
