The city’s art community has reason to celebrate: the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) will host the 58th National Exhibition of Art of the Lalit Kala Akademi.
The Akademi had earlier said it would shift the art carnival out of Bengaluru because of NGMA’s reluctance to host it in the absence of approval from the Union Ministry of Culture.
But at a special meeting of the advisory committee held on Tuesday, NGMA agreed to host the event, said Chi. Su. Krishna Setty, administrator of Lalit Kala Akademi. He added that he was yet to receive official communication on the matter.
The 18-day art exhibition is scheduled to be held from February 23 to March 12, and an art conclave to be attended by over 100 top artists from across the country will be held at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat (KCP), Mr. Setty said.
NGMA director Sathyabhama Badhreenath has agreed to offer the old building of the gallery complex to host the event from February 1 to March 31, besides also offering the new building’s ground floor from February 1 to March 12, with the condition that no additions or alterations be made to the heritage structure.
Mr. Setty said the Lalit Kala Akademi would spend ₹1 crore for holding the event, where 111 works (selected from 6,000 entries) representing the cream of Indian art would be displayed. “Besides this, we are planning to hold the art conclave. Talks are on with KCP in this regard and we have earmarked ₹80 lakh of that,” he said.
Artist Manjunath Kalledevar, who had sought the intervention of Union Minister Ananth Kumar earlier to impress upon the Ministry of Culture to hold the event in Bengaluru, expressed happiness with the development. Senior artist Pa. Sa. Kumar said the news was heartening. “We will get an opportunity to have a glimpse of the best of Indian art and interact with renowned artists,” he told The Hindu .
