Bangalore Art Festival to be a bigger show this time

Bangalore Art Festival to be a bigger show this time

The Hindu

BANGALORE: With a few more weeks to go, Bangalore Art Festival 2005, is getting ready to be a bigger show with a wider audience. Mantram Art Foundation in association with like-minded organisations is out to provide a bigger cultural experience.

The most popular event among the many facets of the art festival has been the "walkway" along Mahatma Gandhi Road's promenade, also known as the "Art Walkway of the Cyber City."

Now with vibrant greenery and with cool breezes likely to last through September, this event is expected to add to the vibrancy that makes M.G. Road something special and a hub of interesting activity.

People at the Art Mantram Foundation say they are going to turn the walkway into a space where art and artists, including sculptors of the contemporary school, can interact with art lovers, respond and exchange ideas with people from the commercial complexes and offices having their lunch or taking tea breaks.

As the visitors walk through they can have spontaneous interactions with the artists and experience their works in surroundings very different from staid art galleries.

This is expected to enhance the viewing of art and add special charm to the whole experience. There is also a good reason behind the art walkway becoming popular. Art galleries focus more on artists who have achieved some measure of distinction in their field and are recognised names.

The walkway with its more casual ambience provides an opportunity to showcase the "not so well known" artists and provides easy access to people who are interested in discovering fresh artists in the making, artists who are perhaps easy on the eye as well as on the pocket.