JAIPUR, Jan 25:
It is not just books and authors at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival, but also hosts a pie for art lovers too.
At the eight edition of the festival, which concludes today, three gigantic 14 feet sculptures—part of a grand Gond art installation erected in front of the Diggi Palace’s Durbar hall, teh main venue for the literary extragavanza have become ‘selfie magnets’ for visitors thronging the area.
The sculptures designed by Vyom Mehta are part of Asura series which draws its characterisation from the epics.
29-year-old Vyom, who had earlier created sculptures depicting ‘Vyomasur ke saat roop’, describes Gond art as depiction of stories about myth, magic, life and nature using natural colours.
Also displayed at the venue are works by winners of the Ojas Art Award.
The Prize, a new annual addition to the Festival was presented to Bhajju Shyam and Venkat Raman Singh Shyam, who were awarded with cash prize of Rs 51000 and Rs 31000 respectively.
A special prize was also conferred upon Gond artist Roshni Vyam.
While Bhajju’s works have earlier been exhibited at the Museum of London and at exhibitions in UK, Germany, Holland, Italy and Russia, Venkat Raman has also carried the legacy of his Pardhan Gond tribal family to international exhibitions in Los Angeles and the US.
The entrance to the Diggi Palace has on display a vintage car customized with pictures of various authors who are attending the festival.
Designer couple Padma- vati Singh and Vikramaditya Singh of Royal Treasures who has been designing the festival venues since its inception in 2006, have used colours like purple, royal pink, fuchsia and turquoise, keep in mind the ‘royality’ theme.
“Royalty and Rajasthan are almost synonymous so it seems like a very easy theme to do but that’s exactly where the challenge lies.
We wanted to borrow from tradition and yet stray clear of cliches and stereotypes,” Padmavati Singh said.
“While everything is being designed to look resplendently royal we wanted the multiple languages, demographies and cultures to be reflected too.
The mix of colours in the awning fabrics, chair covers and the coloured glass in the backdrops helps,” Vikramaditya said.
During the festival, the art lovers also had the chance to participate in dialogues on art history and art appreciation, and sessions focusing on different aspects of Indian art.
A session on art as well as a look at the interplay between Buddhism and architecture with Llewelyn Morgan from Oxford University discussed the Buddhist artworks at Bamiyan in Central Afghanistan, was a delight for the visitors.
Acclaimed Pakistani painter, writer and academic Salima Hashmi also threw light on unknown masterpieces of Pakistani art in conversation with Kamila Shamsie in a session titled “contemporary Pakistani art”. (PTI)
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