A painter at work. (Express Photo) A painter at work. (Express Photo) THE ROSE Festival, which began on Friday, has an artistic space intended to give a platform to artists and also a chance to those visiting the festival, to view works of art and see artists at work. “Many people from different walks of life come here, including many who wouldn’t usually go to a gallery. Here, they get a chance to view and understand the many dimensions of art. This kind of engagement is beneficial to the artists, since they get connected to the public,” says Bheem Malhotra, chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi. For the next three days, Manjot Kaur, Nikhar Daniel, Rishi Raj Tomar and Rashmita Kanojia will be presenting their creations. While Kaur and Daniel have worked together on a contemporary display, Tomar and Kanojia are working on a canvas. Tomar, who won a national award in 2017, teaches art at the Government Model High School, Manimajra. At the festival, he is taking forward his monkey series — a series of paintings in which he uses features of a monkey to present his imagination. Tomar said that he got obsessed with the animal during a visit to his village Bamnoli, where there were a number of them. For over two months, he studied them and through practice familiarised himself with their nature. “I thought why not relate my subject to monkeys and produce my paintings. I was able to express my intention to people in a clearer way when I used them in my sketches,” explained Tomar. Kanojia is a third-year student of Government College of Arts who works on different movements of hands and gestures. “Small moments like holding a hand or resting your hand on someone is so comforting and the gestures so beautiful.” On the occasion of Rose Festival, Kanojia said that she is working on something related to roses, but wasn’t sure of the final direction her painting would take. “The basic concept here will be love.” Kaur’s and Daniel’s display is inspired from Indian miniature paintings, but with a contemporary touch. According to Kaur, the elements of the display, such as wooden window and door frames were collected from scrap yards. “We organised the material, made distortions as we see in the architecture of miniature paintings. Depicting the same thing in 3D was a challenge,” she said. “Then we worked on adding the abstractions using installation and land art.” Their installation is site-specific, since they have incorporated the area’s soil into the display and have also used cotton textiles into it. The artists will be at work till February 25. For all the latest Chandigarh News, download Indian Express App

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