Students’ art makes bold statement

A white Ambassador car with scribbling in black greets you as you step inside the College of Art, its creator Neeraj Chaudhary invites you to have a dekko while trying to put finishing touches to his creation.

A white Ambassador car with scribbling in black greets you as you step inside the College of Art, its creator Neeraj Chaudhary invites you to have a dekko while trying to put finishing touches to his creation.

HT Image

Just as you begin to wonder about its significance, Chaudhary, a third-year student of Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) explains: "My work is called A Street Car Named Desire. The Ambassador has always been associated with aspirations, power and class. Apart from that, the black scribblings also signify the widespread corruption that prevails among government officials today."

Taking inspiration from daily life and transforming simple objects into art, around 800 students of the institute have over 2,000 of their works on display at the 58th annual art exhibition, which began on March 9.

Rahul Sharma, a final-year student of BFA who has been awarded the Sailoz award for topping his batch, draws inspiration from Salvador Dali's work. "I always try to blend my art with a social message," said Sharma who painted a tree inside a cage to depict the impending ecological disaster.

Hailing from Jharkhand, Rajesh Kumar Ram, a final-year student of Master in Fine Arts (MFA) grew up listening to proverbs. "My mother and grandmother always used proverbs in everyday conversations and that became my inspiration," said Ram.

One of his sculptures that depict a man, who sits in a posture of Gandhi inside a cage pointing a gun to his head, is an inter-play between violence and non-violence. "This is inspired from the Hindi proverb 'aa bail mujhe maar'," added Ram. The exhibition is on till March 17.