more-in The corridors of Hawa Mahal have come alive and are buzzing with people. The grand edifice is the venue for the sixth Andhra Pradesh International Art Festival. The skills of local artists and students are on display till July 16 from 11am to 7pm. Organised and curated by Kattakuri Ravi, a city-based artist who has carved a niche for himself in the international circuit, the exhibition aims at promoting and motivating the art students in the city. “As an artist, I feel it’s important to give upcoming artists a platform to showcase their works. This will boost their morale and encourage them to keep going,” says Mr. Kattakuri Ravi. He has been curating art pieces for this exhibition for the past two months. However, he claims that no screening process was done while choosing art from the students. Artists from abroad “Art does not have any perfect definition. Unlike science, it’s very subjective. In my opinion, there is no good art or bad art,” he says. The exhibition has 62 works of art from students and local artists. The pool of paintings also have the names of established artists that includes G. Ravinder Reddy, Mathew Halpin from Greece, Andrea Baltzer from Austria, Johannes Gerard from Germany, Miyuki Kido from Japan, sole from Spain and Maruf Adnan from Bangladesh. Apart from supporting the students Kattukari also hopes that the exhibition teaches them the knacks of displaying art and marketing them. He also hopes that these exhibitions pique the interest of the masses towards art. “It would be unfair to compare Visakhapatnam to Mumbai or Delhi where such exhibitions are held every week. With just two or three exhibitions a year, you can’t expect a very well informed public. However, these tiny efforts, I hope, will brighten the art culture in the city,” he says. The exhibition was inaugurated Andhra University Vice-chancellor G. Nageswara Rao, along with V. Ramesh and Ravi Shankar Patnaik.

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