HT Kala Ghoda Arts Festival: Public artwork, giant mural

The work is titled Homecoming, and the collaborative session was organised in association with the consulate general of Argentina celebrated the return of the horse statue at Kala Ghoda.

You don’t have to be in the air to get a bird’s-eye view of the HT Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

Outlined on the 6-metre x 1.80-metre canvas in intricate detail were the heritage buildings of the art district, the new equestrian statue, the ocean in the distance. And 30 eager participants clustered around it for two hours at the Artists’ Centre art gallery, painting in the watercolours. (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

You just have to look at Argentinian artist Pablo Arnol’s giant mural, which he opened up to the public on Monday.

Outlined on the 6-metre x 1.80-metre canvas in intricate detail were the heritage buildings of the art district, the new equestrian statue, the ocean in the distance. And 30 eager participants clustered around it for two hours at the Artists’ Centre art gallery, painting in the watercolours.

The work is titled Homecoming, and the collaborative session was organised in association with the consulate general of Argentina celebrated the return of the horse statue at Kala Ghoda.

Arnol’s motifs merge seamlessly on the canvas, creating an almost-surreal effect, so a vibrant, coloured sketch of the same mural was projected on one wall to guide participants.

“The mural is based on the Argentinian style of making murals, which are usually wall-length,” said Arnol. “The finished mural will be displayed among the installations at the festival.”

This is Arnol’s third workshop in the city, the other two being with school children.

For Aarthi Basrur, 25, a food blogger from Borivli, it was an experience like no other. “It required a lot of coordination and teamwork, since it was such a large canvas,” Basrur says. “The session helped me appreciate how tough it is to merge colours and transform a sketch into a giant mural.”

For Tabassum Sheikh, 17, a Class 12 student from Mahim, the session helped her gain perspective about her hobby. “It was great fun to play around with colours and watch the sketch transform into art. Being a part of the session, I felt like an artist myself,” she says.