Amazed? That’s what the sculptors claim. The blooming of art ahead of the United Nations’ 11th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity might be of little interest to the general public, in particular cynics, who consider it a huge waste of money. But for sculptors, this is turning out to be a great opportunity to showcase their skills.
The sculpture park at Shilparamam due to be inaugurated soon is spread across six acres. It has many sculptures, some made of stone, some others of scrap metal, but the main attraction is obviously the 70 ft long Gulliver pinned to the ground by a horde of Lilliputs. It is the brainchild of Tejendra Singh Baoni, professor and sculptor from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad, and Sunirmal Mity, an eminent sculptor from Shantiniketan in Kolkata. They are sure that Gulliver will be the cynosure of all eyes at Shilparamam from now on.
“We tried to bring art closer to the general public in a way that they could interact with the sculptures here. Usually, people do not understand contemporary art but we have put in efforts to reflect society through art. We could not ignore children and hence, Gulliver,” said Tejendra Singh Baoni.
Echoing his views, Sunirmal Mity agreed, “in our country, people are not very conscious and aware of art. We want them to interact with these sculptures in the same way that they relate to some movie names or famous dialogues that have become colloquial phrases. We hope these sculptures present here too make an impression on the public consciousness like that.” He termed the move to have a sculpture park novel, pointing out that this is a new concept in the country itself.
Both Tejendra Singh Baoni and Sunirmal Mity have been working on the Gulliver’s metal sculpture for over a month and are confident of finishing their work in the coming days. “This will remain an open museum as the Gulliver’s sculpture if properly maintained will have a life span of over 50 years and probably nobody in the country has ever tried this sort of a metal structure. The sculptures made of stone will last for the next 900 years,” explained Tejendra Singh Baoni.
Some of the metal sculptures include a rooster fight, peacock, scorpion, crocodile, snake etc. As many as 64 sculptures carved out by 38 sculptors are being exhibited here. Sculptors, basically students and upcoming artisans, were drawn from all over the country. While from Andhra Pradesh, 15 were drafted in, 7 came from West Bengal, 5 from Gujarat, 3 from Karnataka, 2 each from Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi, and one each from Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Chhattisgarh.
The inauguration of the sculpture park which was scheduled for Friday has been postponed indefinitely.
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