Indian Paintings and art fairs

Indian Painting - art for all

Art for all or 'Chitra Santhe' meaning 'Art market' is an art fair that is organized by Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, Bangalore, India. This fair brings art to the market place so that the common man is able to experience and possess a piece of Indian painting at a price that he can afford. This painting and art fair happens every year on the last Sunday of January and artists from all over India flock here to exhibit their art and get buyers for them as well. This is good quality art from artists who have been painting for years or just budding out of art schools. Art for all is a concept that is new to Indian painting and this fair is an eye opener for the common people who think that good, quality art is not affordable.

A celebration of Indian painting and art

Chitra Sante is a celebration of Indian painting and art, a day of fantasy come true for art lovers. The main aim of the Sante is to provide artists a platform to showcase their talent and creativity in art and craft. This year, over 1500 artists from across the country were expected to turn up. But my estimate would easily put it anywhere between 2500 to 3000 artists. This was a festival of sorts.

Indian village scenes, flora and fauna captured in oils on canvas

The streets surrounding the Chitrakala Parishat, the art college, which is opposite the golf course of Bangalore are flanked by paintings, sculptures and other Indian art on both sides of the road . These roads are freed of traffic just for this purpose on this day. Art is displayed on the roads with small pieces of tile and stones to keep the canvases in place. Huge oil paintings are hung from the compound walls and trees and literally anywhere there is place to display them. The crowds throng, both young and old, fascinated by what they see. It isn't every day that you see amazing paintings on the road.

Popular Indian paintings - traditional and contemporary paintings

Landscape painting, in oils, acrylic and water colors are most common. These are the kind of paintings that are most sought after and are often bought. You would see many a fair skinned foreigner, carrying huge pieces of painting and trying to get as much as they can from the best there is. Huge canvases of oil paintings are sought after by the hospitality industry and are quite popular here. Typical Indian themes like elephants, village scenes of huts, men herding flocks of goats, sheep and cattle, bullock carts are very popular with the foreigners and the hospitality industry.

Pencil sketches

Pencil sketches which could compete with the best photographs that you can take are found in plenty here. I was amazed by some of pencil sketches that I thought would put any print to shame.

It is a wonderful sight to see artists at work, wielding the brushes in a masterly way. You could also see portrait artists at work, and for a small sum of $2-3 you can get a portrait of yourself done in pencil. In just half an hour you would see an astoundingly accurate image of yourself. There were youngsters as old as 14 years who were doing these portraits on the street. These portraits and caricatures are pretty popular with the crowd. No portrait artist was out of work, even though there were hundreds of them.

Inspirational paintings in Oils

People in the crowds jostled with each other for elbow space, to have a look at the paintings that were displayed on the sides of the road. This art market stretches for atleast 3 to 4 kilometers of road space and the crowd is thick, all through, needing hundreds of policemen to regulate the traffic. This would be one event in Bangalore that I would never like to miss. It is not only educative for me as an aspiring artist, but it is an inspiration in itself. Thousands upon thousands of painters, both young and old display as many paintings as they have on hand in this art for all fair. It seems like the whole art community is just gearing up for this one show all through the year.

Three dimensional paintings and wall murals

Some of the 3 dimensional painting cum art work was inspiration at its best. Huge wall murals could be bought at very reasonable prices, and, if you did not find what you were looking for, but you found the artist who you thought had promise, you could directly deal with the artist, get your art done and delivered to you at your time frame.

Some of the arts displayed here are typical art school products, copies from the masters, but then you see the original touch of the painter in each of these. Indian life in all its beauty is realistically captured in these paintings. The flora, the fauna, the landscape, beautiful Indian women and princely looking men are celebrated on these pieces of art.

Paintings at prices that are affordable

Some of the paintings that are exhibited here, could be bought for a few thousand rupees but these would cost you a fortune in the art galleries. People with an eye for art scout this fair to spot a budding painter with great talent and just book him/her and all his/her works to make quite a bit of money in the art market. The ultimate art collectors’ paradise, not only are paintings exhibited here, but art and crafts of different kinds are displayed here.

Art competitions are organized for children who come to the fair by various art product companies. It is inspiring to see creativity at its peak among the children of Bangalore. Who wouldn’t be, when you have such a great showing and so much inspiration all around you? Other attractions for the children in this art for all fair fairs are the tattoos and face paintings that they can get done by artists for a very small sum.

This whole show is put up to encourage budding and self-taught artists who would otherwise never find such appreciation or such exposure to buyers. This fair also helps the general public to be directly in touch with the artists themselves and avoid the middle men who hike up the costs. This event always serves as an inspiration for artists, many of whom travel long distances just to see the art galleries on the road, network with other artists and go home inspired.

This art fair is all in one; not only can you buy a great piece of art on canvas off the streets but also have it framed too to your liking at the venue itself. Art supplies are also sold at discounted prices to encourage people to buy and experiment with art. Other cities like Goa are trying to replicate this unique Bangalore event. The thumping success that Bangalore has had with art for all has inspired other states to come up with something on a similar scale. For me, the Chitra Santhe would always be that special event that I look forward to every year.