Painting a bright future

A painting by Parikshit Pisal

There is a fundamental difference between someone who graduates from an art school and a person who completes, say, an MBA degree. The latter hopes to enter a well-defined job market that has a corporate structure in place. But the arts student has to chart his own professional journey and would find himself to be all at sea after being pushed into the deep end. He'll need to figure out the best ways to garner the interests of galleries, reach a wider audience and make his work commercially viable so that, in the absence of a secure monthly salary, he can still pay his bills. It can be an intimidating prospect. And that's why Mumbai's Priyasri Art Gallery is organising an open day - titled Ballads of Baroda - where nine students from its artists' studio in the Gujarat city will showcase their work, speak about their processes and in doing so, receive the feedback and guidance they'd need not just to paint more refined pieces, but also a brighter future for themselves.

The nine students are Ankita Daulatabadkar, Astha Patel, Durgadas Garai, Parikshit Pisal, Pranoti Malkute, Rumit Donga, Savitha Ravi, Sheena Bajaria and Radhika Wader. Five of them are painters and four are printmakers, and almost all of them have graduated from the faculty of fine arts at Baroda's MS University, one of the finest in the country. The event will involve them putting up their works on display, and later, discuss their process and personal journeys as artists with the audience.

A print by Durgadas Garai

Priyasri Patodia, who runs the Worli gallery and the artists' studio in Baroda, tells us, "We want them to narrate their stories and reveal a bit about their techniques, since the way they work is an important part of revealing who they are as artists. It shows the layers in their pieces, and when there are layers, there is also depth. Art is not just about painting a pretty picture or creating a beautiful installation. There has to be something personal. And that's what differentiates a calendar artist from someone who can be called a contemporary art world person."

Priyasri Patodia

She adds that one of the artists will explain how she used empty tetra packs for printmaking, while another will talk about how crushing pigments from flowers. The idea, Patodia says, is to give the audience a window into the artist's mind. But more importantly, the event is aimed at giving the youngsters feedback, guidance, greater market exposure and access to galleries so that - now that the bubble of their college days has burst - they still don't drown in the deep end they might find themselves in.

ON December 20 and 21, 11 am to 7 pm
AT Priyasri Art Gallery, Shiv Sagar Estate, Worli.
CALL 24947673
FREE

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