A rare opportunity

Heightened Senses brings the work of some masters and renowned contemporary artists

November 22, 2013 07:52 pm | Updated 07:52 pm IST - COIMBATORE

A painting by Laxman Aelay

A painting by Laxman Aelay

The masters are in town. M.F. Husain, Thota Vaikuntam (renowned the world over for his Women of Telengana series), K. Laxma Goud, Chandra Bhattacharjee, C.F. John, Jogen Chowdhury, Niren Sengupta… Nearly 84 works by about 70 artists will be displayed at Vivanta By Taj-Surya as part of Heightened Senses, put together by Rotary Club of Coimbatore Texcity and Artchutney.com. The exhibition is open today and tomorrow.

One of the highlights of the show is an M.F. Husain original from his ‘Mother Teresa’ series. Other artists whose works will be on display include Laxman Aelay, Biswajit Mondal, Yati Jaiswal, Parvathi Nayar, Ritu Kamath, Avijit Dutta and Vikash Kalra.

It is an art exhibition with a cause as proceeds from the show will be utilised for the various community initiatives of Rotary Texcity. Rotary Texcity helps run a vocational training centre for women in rural areas, teaching them computers and tailoring. It also conducts medical camps in and around the city for the underprivileged.

Partnering with this initiative was a way for Artchutney.com to bring its philosophy of art to Coimbatore. “We believe in taking art to public spaces. People lead busy lives and have almost stopped coming to galleries. This is a great way to introduce them to art,” says Raj Bagaria, founder. The online gallery does something similar in Bangalore.

Coimbatore was a natural choice, says Raj, because it is an emerging city. Also, art in metro cities has reached part-saturation point. Tier-II cities are the future. “I know there is a space here for art. People have been buying art, but there are not many avid collectors. We want to get more people to look at art that way.”

For this show, Raj has put together a mixed bag of artists. “We have 84 works, by about 75 artists. I have chosen art that is figurative, and pleasing to the eye. Not much of classic art. And, all of them are investment-grade artists, well-known names in the metros,” he says.

If this show is well received, Raj plans to hold more such exhibitions. “Then, we will bring in more works of the masters. This show has just a handful, because only the big collectors can afford them,” he says.

All the works are on sale, with prices starting at Rs. 10,000 and going up to Rs. 25 lakh. Prices for the masters’ works are on request.

Date: November 23 and 24

Venue: Vivanta By Taj-Surya

Time: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Telephone: 99430-43890 & 93631-54990

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