An informal community of artists, who linked up through social media and word of mouth, organised Gubbarey, a unique exhibition at the Alliance Française de Bangalore on February 4 and 5.
“At Gubbarey, we have featured paintings, embroidery pieces and photographs by amateurs as well as professionals. We see each of them as a Slice of expression in Life,” said Anuradha Ganesan, a member of Slice of Life (SoL), which organised the event.
“Additionally, theatre enthusiasts who teamed up to form the Mad Hats Theatre group, also a constituent of SoL, [staged] their first production here,” added Anuradha.
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Among the painters whose lively and colourful creations were on display were Pushpa Nambiar, an employee of a private firm in Dubai and Puneet Gupta, a technologist in Bangalore. Puneet, who is a graduate from IIT-Delhi, co-founded SoL in 2006.
There were intriguing watercolours painted by Prabal Mallick and Praveen Chavan.
Apart from these were IT professional Sachin Nayak's wildlife photographs, where birds and animals were captured in their natural habitat.
According to Anuradha, the idea for Gubbarey germinated while conducting an audition for their theatre group. Soon after, a Facebook group was initiated. “When a few of the members began to post their pictures and poems, others felt encouraged to do the same. We have over 100 members in the online group now. We have been preparing for two months to bring everyone together,” she said.
Art for all
There were artists aged from 20 to 60 — there was Lloyd C. Roberte, who is an experienced apparel designer, and his young protégé, Sania Khatwani. Lloyd is an independent artist based in Bangalore while Sania has been making accessories such as stoles, pouches and scarves. Sania, who is a product of the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, was actively involved in designing clothes for ‘Thunk In India', a social venture that promotes the conversion of waste material like rejected cotton yarn into usable items.
Ajoy Parretto, a visitor remarked: “I like the intricacy of the creations. And I believe that art has nothing to do with age.” Their philosophy of art being for everyone was evident at the event.