From Mithila to modern art, over 40 paintings by eight foreign artists are grabbing eyeballs at the four-day Dhanbad Art Fair, which kicked off at zilla parishad grounds on Monday.

Among the eight foreign artists, two are from Bangladesh and South Korea and four from Nepal. All the paintings have been curated by Muzaffarpur-based acclaimed painter A.K. Douglas.

Shyam Sundar Yadav from Kathmandu, Nepal, gained applause for his modern-style depiction of Mithila folk painting. “I am really attached to Mithila painting and here I have given a contemporary touch. I picked up the style of Mithila painting by visiting several villages in India as it is not taught in any university or school,” said Yadav, who has taken part in over 150 exhibition across 20 countries and has till date organised five solo exhibitions including four in Nepal and one in Bangladesh.

“Some students of IIT(ISM) asked me whether I tell a story through my paintings to which I replied that all my work depict some story based on my feelings,” he added.

Yadav further said he was quite overwhelmed with the kind of appreciation he received at the fair. “The experience on the first three days was quite good and people took keen interest in my paintings,” said Yadav.

Beside Yadav, Kishore Nakarmi, Bibhushan Tarmarkae and Pritam Thapa have all come from Nepal to display their creations at the fair. “We went to the nearby Dhangi Hills on Tuesday and also plan to visit some coal mines tomorrow (Thursday),” added Yadav.

Enjuin Ko and Kim Sungmi from South Korea looked equally thrilled to take part in the exhibition. “After Calcutta Dhanbad is the second place I visited in India. I feel this place is much less crowded than Calcutta but am equally appalled at the kind of diversity the country has,” said Enjuin.

The 25-year-old painter has displayed two of her paintings, one of which highlights environmental degradation caused by industrialisation. “I tried to show nature’s beauty and also highlight how human intervention is harming the environment,” she said.

Mahdi Masud from Bangladeshi, who took part in the exhibition along with his compatriot Tahmina Hafiz Lisa, said, “I had a really nice experience displaying my paintings here at the art fair.”

A painting by Bibhushan Tarmarkae at the Dhanbad Art Fair on Wednesday Picture by Gautam Dey