Chitkara University’s ‘National Level Art Festival’ unites art lovers and artists

NEW DELHI, APRIL 22, 2019: Chitram - the four-day National Level Art Festival of Chitkara School of Art & Design, a constituent institute of Chitkara University, witnessed some spectacular works of art through workshops, seminars, live demonstrations and an exhibition. This celebration of art was organized from April 18-21, 2019. The festival offered artists of various interests and backgrounds, the opportunity to converge and connect, and share their pearls of wisdom with budding artists and enthusiasts. Their art was displayed in a fascinating and thought-provoking manner, enabling much discussion between the artist and the viewer.

The events of Chitram included, but were not limited to, the following:

• Painting Workshops

• National Seminar on ‘Art in Contemporary Society’

• Interaction with students

• Live Demonstrations by noted artists

• Exhibition of Art Works

Galaxy of Artists

The event was graced by the presence of 16 eminent contemporary artists, hailing from the different parts of India - carrying their unique identity on canvas, to participate along with scholars, students & art enthusiasts from different Institutions. Creativity and enthusiasm knew no bounds as big names, including, 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 Kumar 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 art festival.

Mosaic of Colours

Every acrylic artwork oozed with an abundance of colour and vigour. Some paintings focused on nature and life experiences while others highlighted human emotions.

Artist Amit Dutt from New Delhi named his artwork “Aakar to Nirakaar” featured the flow of human emotions on canvas - the thought process (images from blur to clarity) to reach a meditative state of calm through the chaos. Dutt, whose works are based on the poetic representation of the human body and its spiritual part, used a combination of charcoal and acrylic paint with a subtle colour scheme to bring his masterpiece to life.

A Twist of Imagination

The purpose of art festivals is not only to bask in the beauty of art but also to enable close interaction between the artist and the audience. This helps the artist to communicate his/ her artwork’s message to the viewer. Artist Renu Sangwan from New Delhi, whose work mostly concentrates on the creation of beautiful imageries representing mythological characters of women, paints to speak to her audience in the language of bold colours - reds, yellows and oranges that conjure up sunlight and fire! Painting an embodiment of Maa Durga in red who is “powerful, strong and proud of herself”, Sangwan encourages a woman who holds her ground. Similarly, artist Kishore Roy from Delhi whose art pieces usually depict the beauty of the divine couple ‘Radha & Krishna’ and the ‘Jataka’ Tales, adopted history with a twist of imagination on his canvas.

Beauty in the eyes of the beholder, indeed!

Contemporary artist Basant Kumar Bhargava from Bhopal is fond of creating abstracts around the beauty of cityscapes. His landscapes do not refer to any specific place which can be located on the map. He rather creates places with his active imagination or “collective memories” as he aptly describes them. This time, his painting named, “city life as viewed by him -  a collection of his memories”, holds true to his aforementioned claim. Intrigued by nature's beauty, artist Sanjay Kumar Biswal from New Delhi gathers inspiration from nature for his artworks. “Nature is my muse. I love to bring the beauty of the outdoors onto the canvas,” he says, pointing to his stunning ‘work-in-progress’ art piece.

On a high note

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, Padma Bhushan Awardee Shri Jatin Das, for a rare treat, as he demonstrated his creative process with an exclusive Live Painting Workshop at the Chitkara University campus. He suggests the students to, “Put art in everything for rhythm”, and encouraged them further by giving an incredibly energising talk about his artistic journey.

Hon’ble Dr Madhu Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University adds, “The aim of Chitram was to support rich talents and provide art enthusiasts with 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."