BHUBANESWAR: Cultivation is the chief source of livelihood in Odisha. Keeping this in mind, Dhauli College of Art and Crafts in collaboration with N.R.R.I organised a three-day art expo at National Rice Research centre in Cuttack from Saturday.
The fest concluded Monday afternoon. At least 25 top students showcased their paintings based on rice cultivation. The concluding day of the fest was attended by Prakash Kar of N.R.R.I and Chandan Kumar Samal of Dhauli College of Art and Crafts. Interacting with Orissa Post, Kar said, “In the wake of modernism, people are forgetting the contribution of our farmers. Therefore, we have organised this huge art fest to create awareness amidst general masses.”
Artist Raja Ram Swain said, “All the artistes have truly enjoyed depicting the story of farmers through paintings. Right from ploughing to planting the crop, all aspects of rice cultivation are drawn immaculately on canvas through watercolour, acrylic and more. The ‘Rebirth’ of farming through paintings was brought through water colours. It went beyond decorative manuscripts and was comprehended by the elite class due to their love for art.”
Goswami Panchayat, an art critic from Cuttack feels that paintings should cross the border of feminism and beauty and it should capture realistic images of people. This has been accurately done by these budding yet brilliant artistes of Dhauli College of Art and Crafts.
Manisha Moharana, Sanjukta Rani Das, Biswaranjan Dash, Asit Kumar Samal, Bimaljyoti Tripathy, Chandramani Patra, Sulagna Das, Biswadeep Biswal, Pabitra Mohan Nayak, Kunal Mandal, Soumyaranjan Samant, Niranjan Nayak, Om Prakash Barik, Gopal Krushna Nayak, Srikant Kumar Rout, Iswar Kumar Mohanta and many others participated in this intuitive art expo.