Trucks, load carriers, auto rickshaws, food, girls in Hijab, news, colours of Kashmir, rocks, heritage, old scripts, reflections from Dal Lake, cricket, midnight landscape, peace and chaos. These were the pictures painted by sixteen national award winning artists that were Wednesday displayed in 18th National Spring Art camp held by D P Dhar Memorial Trust, Srinagar at Delhi Public School Athwajan, Srinagar.
Among the sixteen artists, Hadi Soesanto from Indonesia impressed the first Lady Usha Vohra who inaugurated the art exhibition. Apart from being an artist, Hadi is a musician and a magician who turned a piece of newspaper into Rs 500 note, making the lady smile. The other artists came from India, Nepal, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.
Sharing his source of inspiration to paint a scene from night, an artist said, “I was just looking out from the window of my studio here. I saw a tree, moonlight, rocks and painted the landscape. The only difference is that it’s a landscape during night.”
Painting a social message that all people are born with capabilities that get polished by one’s destiny, having an impact on the future Gan Sze Hooi from Malaysia had painted two boys with one brain. The future of the boy in school uniform looked brighter and vice versa.
Another artist, Asit Kumar from Nepal said that he had heard a lot about the Dal lake. After his first visit to Kashmir, this year, he painted the Dal Lake and Shikaras in it. He, however, had painted himself as well, cleaning the lake.
Talking about the Kashmiri women with their face covered, Sandhya Silwal from Nepal who had painted the common Kashmiri designs and the two women said, “There is beauty inside their scarfs. Everything can be read through their eyes.”
Analysing the local dailies here, another artist had painted two boys with a cricket bat in hand. From the cuttings of the newspapers, he made his message evident: Let them live their dreams.
He also told Usha that he saw the peace and chaos in the valley like it existed in Ireland.
The art camp was conceptualised by famous artist Shama Sondhi under the patronage of Vijay Dhar, the chairman D P Dhar Memorial Trust which promoted the first art camp in Srinagar in 2006 after a gap of 18 years. The trust has had twenty-two National, International, Tribal, Local, and Sculpture and Student art camps.
Speaking on the occasion, Usha said, “I enjoyed being here, the expression made by these artists ar very unique and true to their impression. Some of them are very beautiful, depicting novel ideas in a novel format.”
She also inaugurated the artist catalogue in the presence of the Trust members, Principal DPS, Soorbhi Jamal, a senior teacher and students.
As per a statement issued here, “D.P. Dhar Memorial Trust has been contributing continuously to uplift the society in Kashmir through not only academics but through arts and crafts also. After 18 years the trust initiated the first art camp in 1996 in Srinagar and the chain has not broken since.
“Regular seminars and literary congregations are prominent features in our yearly schedule for spreading art awareness in the society,” it further read.
REFERENCE:
June 9, 2016.Artists paint ‘idea of Kashmir’ at International Spring Art Camp.Rising Kashmir.retrieved from
Artists paint ‘idea of Kashmir’ at International Spring Art Camp
