Chandigarh
22 April 2019
DIVYA AZAD
Chitram 2019 – National Level Art Festival of was organized at Chitkara University. Festival saw the artist and the audience absorbed in spectacular works of art, during the 4-day art rendezvous.
Painting Workshops, National Seminar on ‘Art in Contemporary Society’, Interaction with students, Live Demonstrations by noted artists, and finally an Exhibition of Art Works, created during the festival, formed the impressive line-up of events during the Art Festival. The festival offered artists from a diverse range of interests, the opportunity to converge and connect, and share their wealth of experience and knowledge with aspiring artists and enthusiasts. They displayed art in a fascinating and thought-provoking manner, enabling a dialogue between the artist and the viewer.
The highlight of the event was coming together of 16 eminent contemporary artists like Padma Bhushan Awardee Shri. Jatin Das from New Delhi, Amit Dutt from New Delhi, Basant Kumar Bhargava from Bhopal, Chandrashekhar Kale from Ujjain; Him Chatterjee from Shimla, Kamlesh K Gandhi from Jammu, Kishore Roy from Delhi, Manash Ranjan Jena from Bhubaneswar, Meenaketan Pattnaik from Bhubaneswar; Priya Ranjan Behera from Bengaluru, Ranjan Kummar Mallik from Chitkara University, Renu Sangwan from New Delhi, Roopak Kumar Ghadei from Hyderabad; Sanjay Biswal from New Delhi; Sudarshan Pal Singh from Chitkara University, and Vineet Bhardwaj from Haryana, were some of the mentors and participants at the Festival.
Artistes carried their unique identity on canvas, to participate along with scholars, students & art lovers from different Institutions at the event., The acrylic art work was marked by an abundance of colours and exuded freshness. Some of the pieces radiated creativity, stemming from nature and life experiences. The paintings that caught the attention of one and all were those highlighting human emotions – blurring thoughts to clarity in action, intricate abstract art painting depicting the artists’ ‘collective memories’ of cityscape on canvas, and nature in its ‘vibrant hues’.
Padma Bhushan Awardee Shri Jatin Das provided a rare treat and a liftime opportunity, as he demonstrated his creative process with an exclusive Live Painting Workshop at Chitkara University campus. “Put art in everything for rhythm,” he suggested the students, giving an incredibly energising talk as he spoke about his artistic journey.Artist Renu Sangwan from New Delhi, whose work mostly focuses on creation of beautiful imageries representing mythological characters of women, paints to speak to her audience in the language of bold colours – reds, yellows & oranges that conjure up sunlight and fire! Painting a “powerful, strong and proud of herself” embodiment of Maa Durga in Red, Sangwan spoke of a woman who holds her ground. Similarly, artist Kishore Roy from Delhi whose art pieces usually portray the beauty of the Divine couple ‘Radha & Krishna’ and the ‘Jataka’ Tales, embraced history with a twist of imagination on his canvas.
Chitram 2019 concluded on a high note with hundreds of art enthusiasts – students from Animation, Design, Fine Arts, Visual Arts, Photography and various other streams, gathered around one of India’s most iconic artist Speaking about the Chitram Art Festival, Hon’ble Dr Madhu Chitkara, Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University, “The aim of Chitram was to support rich talent and provide art enthusiasts a platform to learn, explore, innovate, discover, focus, reach and achieve – all under one roof. As educators, we aspire to go beyond traditional learning to give our students unique opportunities to blossom.”
Other programs that were a part of the event included, ‘Meet the Artist Program’ and an Interactive Session on ‘Art Therapy & Colour Therapy’ with the students & faculty. The event concluded with a Catalog Release and an Exhibition of the artworks produced during the workshop.
