Art is a hobby for many people. ‘Magic Strokes’, a new exhibition that starts from Thursday at Darpan Art Gallery, brings together nine professionals from different fields. Rahul Ranade, a senior IT professional, who is one of the organisers says, “We have included artworks with different mediums so as to ensure variety for the audience.”
Ranade, who has participated in 56 national exhibitions and three international exhibitions, is inspired by nature, old monuments and life experiences. “I like to express my feelings and emotions through my paintings. I like to paint rural environment,” he adds.
In this exhibition, he will be displaying an art work on Varanasi, which captures the holiness as well as the chaos seen on the ghats. Ranade has also painted Lord Vitthal on canvas.
Gynecologist Dr Meera Kulkarni took to painting because it’s a big stress reliever for her. Kulkarni, who has been painting for five decades, says, “I believe in looking at everything around me with a different perspective, be it a shoe or trees. I think if there are objects in the painting, then people can relate to it more easily. I had once painted a table that belonged to my mother-in-law. Many people could relate to it and they shared their stories about similar objects.”
Kulkarni, who used watercolours in the past, has now switched to acrylics. She will be presenting 12 of her artworks including still life and nature.
Another artist, Dominic Nishal Manik Paul, who will be presenting four of his artworks, designs car interiors. The automobile engineer says that he learnt pencil sketching in school after which he dabbled into graffiti, wall painting and interior painting. “Apart from doing graffiti, I used to paint in acrylic and oil paint on canvas when I was in college. I have been painting for the last six years and this is my first exhibition. Out of the four paintings, three are acrylic and one is done in oil medium.”
He adds, “I had never participated in any exhibition but last time when I visited an exhibition at Darpan art gallery, I noticed the kind of exposure the artists get. Further, there is networking between artists and art lovers.” Dominic calls his artwork as ‘Visionary Art’ that blends the elements of memories or dreams with realistic elements.
At ‘Magic Strokes’, you will also come across rangoli art by Jayashri Jejurkar, a freelance artist who does wall art painting for cafes, hospitals and residences. She says, “I have been painting since 2006 and I started doing rangoli portrait from 2009. Since there weren’t many rangoli artists, I would experiment a lot and that gave me confidence. For the exhibition, I have done one rangoli art on Warkaris or the pilgrims. I use acrylic and oil colours for my paintings.”
ST READER SERVICE
‘Magic Strokes’, an art exhibition is organised at Darpan Art Gallery, off Senapati Bapat Road, Gokhalenagar between August 1 and 6 from 11 am to 7.30 pm. Entry is free
