While a majority of art continues to be produced for the white cube, some is made for the masses to savour. We cite three dramatic examples of the latter to showcasing attempts to bring art closer to our daily lives.
A giant installation of Hanuman created with 26,500 bells to be displayed at Select Citywalk, Saket from September 13 to October 5
The idea emerged while Charuvi Agarwal was working on her studio’s (Charuvi Design Labs) debut animated short “Shri Hanuman Chalisa in 3D” based on the verses of Hanuman Chalisa. Delhi-based artist then decided to take it out of the boundaries of the film and bring it in a public space. “To re-narrate the story in a contemporary manner. We can no longer restrict ourselves to mundane sources of information as a receiver and a provider. Storytelling has evolved,” says Charuvi. So there came up more than 25 feet high Hanuman structure made of 26,500 bells with a canopy of lamps. “Each one is designed in the form of a calligraphy of Shri Ram. There are lamps below too and plus there is a kavad of 8 feet by 16 feet based on Hanuman Chalisa. But lest you look at it with religious undertones, let me clarify that is not the intention. The aim is to discover divinity within art to show the beauty of devotion and dedication through Hanuman’s journey,” says the young artist.
Charuvi feels that a story like his would be able to relate to and when displayed at a universal platform like a mall, it would easily draw in lot of people. “It has motors underneath and the moment you touch the khadau, the bells will start ringing.”
Through a free Hanuman app, catalogues and presence of her staff explaining the art work to the viewers, Charuvi strives to make the installation even more interactive.
Mural at Wagah
At the historic Wagah border, Banaras-based artist Suresh Nair has made a mural on the entrance wall (measuring 10 feet by 150 feet) of Sarhad, an ethnic food and culture park in Attari, owned by retired IAS officer D.S.Jaspal. Teaching painting and mural at the Department of Painting, Faculty of Visual Arts at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Nair has undertaken City Decorative Project in Banaras where he paints airport, railway stations, bus stands, schools, universities, street walls and cantonment area etc along with his entourage of nearly 100 students.
The 150 feet mural at Sarhad is cement relief and can be divided into 6 parts depicting togetherness followed by the scenes of Partition, current situation etc. The wet plastered cement wall is carved into to depicting the vivid imagery with the help of a team comprising art students from Banaras Hindu University, artists, curators from Pondicherry and local masons.
Freedom bike installation at the atrium in Blue Frog, Mehrauli on September 14
Back in Delhi, two designers Prateek Jain and Gautam Seth of Klove Studio are immersed in creating “Freedom Bike” – an art installation using vintage and interesting articles collated from all over the country. Approximately 14 feet long, the bike will be almost be a repository of artifacts collected by two bikers who travelled across the country. “They have collected things like a 100 year-old musical instrument esraj from a collector in Kolkata, warrior helmets, old typewriters. To a traveller it will evoke a feeling of wanderlust, an art connoisseur will perceive it like an art object.”
The installation is part of “The Great India Collectors’ Ride” — an eight episode series being aired on History Channel — in association with xBhP, the largest motorcycling community in India, and sponsored and promoted by OLX.
