CIMA Art Mela 2024, with its display of works by 60 artists, drew many familiar faces and a few new ones, too, on its second day.
With the first day of the CIMA Art Mela taking off on a high note, on the second day (November 23), the gates swung open for another serious day of art.
The objective of the CIMA Art Mela is to connect original art to art lovers and collectors at affordable prices, making it accessible to all.
“A large crowd attended today and more artwork was sold, making it a successful day overall,” said Pratiti Basu Sarkar, chief administrator of CIMA.
Many of the art enthusiasts spent a couple of hours choosing the perfect piece
Tapan and Julie Datta were the first buyers on the second day of the Art Mela. “The panel painting (by Meghnad Ganapule) is particularly interesting as there are lots of different perspectives. You have a hint of a face and there are other things going on in the background. It’s very subtly showing images behind and the more you look at it the more it opens up,” said Tapan Datta, an economist, who was present with Julie. The couple also picked up a Manish Moitra painting.
Tapan and Julie Datta bought two paintings from the gallery, one for their home back in London and one for their daughter
Arjun Mukherjee is a familiar face at CIMA, where he more enjoys looking at art than buying. “I picked up a Sadikul Islam painting. I have bought his works earlier, too. I love the way he has treated the dust in this painting. The colours are spread beautifully. I would love to watch this village scene in real life and on my walls as well. I have another piece by Sadikul Islam, which is bigger. They should look good next to each other,” said the national creative director of VML (formerly Wunderman Thompson).
Arjun Mukherjee picked up a Sadikul Islam painting for himself this season
Art lover Raj Kumar was having a hard time choosing a painting. “I did like a couple of paintings, but I could not decide whether to buy them. The piece by Subrata Gangopadhyay is unique because of the expressions of the women, who are dancing. It grabs your eyes. Even the painting around this one features these women who have these striking expressions on their faces. It really is a unique piece,” said the technology engineer.
Raj Kumar pointed at the striking painting by Subrata Gangopadhyay that was priced at over Rs 2 lakh
The works of Sunirmal Maity and Subir Dey have been big draws. Maity is a senior artist and has had his works featured at CIMA earlier, too. His style is mixed media on paper.
Dey, on the other hand, is fairly new. The latter works with a complicated fabric where he uses tempera paint of treated cloth upon paper. His works also show a sense of humour such as one of a monkey painted in human form. Both their works have a figurative element with a story-telling approach.
The paintings of Sunirmal Maity and Subir Dey gathered quite a crowd
With the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP) setting up food stalls on the ground floor of the building, founder Sudha Kaul dropped in and met Pratiti Basu Sarkar, who had been a teacher at IICP. “She was one of our first teachers and in a way we were celebrating our association of close to 50 years. She is a connoisseur of art,” Kaul said.
The two discussed how it is often forgotten that people with disabilities have an artistic side as well. “Most of the focus on interventionism is physical management and we forget that they also have a right to creative expression,” Basu Sarkar said. Kaul spoke about how IICP student Madhuri Kapoor, who passed away a few years ago, would use a headstick with a brush attached to it since she could not use her hands because of . cerebral palsy. To keep her art alive, CIMA Art Mela is preparing to feature her paintings for the next season.
Pratiti Basu Sarkar (left) and Sudha Kaul pose with Madhuri Kapoor’s painting which she made with a headstick and a brush
Art Mela 2024 is on till November 24, 11am to 8pm, at CIMA Gallery (43, Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, Sunny Towers, 2nd Floor, Kolkata - 700019)