Exhibition for differently abled children

New Delhi, Mar 7: Artworks by veteran artists like Anjolie Ela Menon, Raghu Rai, R S Radhakrishnan and Paresh Maity will be part of a show that seeks to raise funds for offering medical assistance to differently abled children.

Titled 'Art Reflect 2016', the exhibition which will open to public today, is being organised as part of a charity event by Udaan, a non-profit foundation for children with autism, mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

It has been designed and curated by award winning architect Nilanjan Bhowal and will showcase 20 contemporary Indian artists who have agreed to "donate their prime works of art."

"I wanted to bring creative people together for a social cause and when I approached the artists, they happily agreed. As a gesture they will be charging the buyers half of the cost of the painting and the buyers will be giving the other to the NGO as a donation," says Bhowal.

The 50 works that will be displayed at the exhibition will include nearly 43 paintings along with ceramic works by popular Telangana-based artist P R Daroz and photographs by Rameshwar Broota and Raghu Rai.

Other artists include Rajeev Lochan, Jagannath Panda, Jayasri Burman, Manu and Madhvi Parekh, Jogen Chowdhury and Yuriko Lochan among others. While some of the works are a few years older, most artists will be showcasing their recent, never-seen-before works that were completed right in time for the exhibition.

"Some of them who were busy and were travelling gave me their earlier works that were not displayed before. Others have given me new works which are very recent and were made for this exhibition," says Bhowal.

Bhowal and his wife Sanhita, who is an art historian and has helped in the curation of the show have refrained from keeping a theme for the show and will display the works in a "manner that they could be appreciated and there is no visual fatigue."

"The paintings are not thematic. I strongly felt that it won't be right to restrict the artist's imagination as it could lead to some sort of monotony," he says. Bhowal says that the NGO plans to make the exhibition an annual affair and is open to collaborate with other organisations to support other causes as well.

It will also seek to accommodate other forms of art including performing arts and literature. "This is going to become an annual feature. It reflects on our role in the society and see how we can be of help. Later on we can also associate with other NGOs for different social causes. The concept is to bring the creative art community together and also rope in other fields of art like dance, music and literature," he says.

The show which will be held at Visual Arts Gallery in India Arts Centre here is set to continue till March 9.

PTI