With a treasure trove of paintings and pieces of sculpture, an art gallery will be opened in Sector II of MVP Colony in the city on Tuesday.
C.S.N. Patnaik, who retired as lecturer in Sculpture, opens the gallery on two floors of his house. The gallery contains about 500 to 600 paintings in water and oil and about 100 bronze pieces of sculpture. It has works from 1950 till date by Mr.Patnaik.
“The idea is to educate students of fine arts and artists and expose them to high quality work and present trends and contemporary movements,” Mr. Patnaik told reporters here on Sunday. Chief Minister K. Rosaiah will visit the gallery on Tuesday. To promote artists, Mr. Patnaik also wants to lend the space for exhibitions but only after satisfying himself about the quality of the work. He will see works in all the models and media and advise the artists. “There will be no trade secrets,” he adds.
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Emphasising the distinct style and character of his work, he says his work mostly deals with rural themes. A look at the works on display reveals a strong reservoir of memory that draws on his life in Srikakulam district. He was born at Badam near Narsannapeta of the district.
Recipient of several awards, he had received a Research Fellowship in Bronze Sculpture from the University Grants Commission in 1975. He retired as a lecturer in Sculpture at the Government College for Women, Guntur, where he ran a gallery till recently. He held several exhibitions including in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad and participated in the State Art Exhibition at Hyderabad.
The 84-year-old sculptor shifted to the city recently at the insistence of his children. He runs the gallery with his own resources and visits to it are, however, only by appointment.
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“Even at this age he makes sure that he works everyday and sticks to a strict routine like an office-goer,” says his son Ravisankar Patnaik, Head of the Department of Fine Arts, Andhra University.