When parks turn into open air art galleries

More than 500 artists across age groups will turn Senmozhi Poonga into a dazzling kaleidoscope of colours on February 2. The second edition of Chennaiyil Oar Oviya Sangamam, an art exhibition presented by Indian Art Factory, will see participants, some from other cities, take every inch of their stall under tree canopies and behind plants to present a vibrant art gallery. The event is a big stage for aspiring and upcoming artists. Many of these artists do not have the means or the qualification to present their works at art galleries.

While the larger goal of taking art to public spaces is to bridge the gap between artists and audiences through creative expressions, the road to this is not so easy.

For six editions, the Art Fest at Nageshwara Rao Park in Mylapore, curated by journalist and publisher Vincent D. Souza and artist Ganapathy Subramaniam, has served as a date for public engagement. This year, however, the fest scheduled to take place during the last week of February, will see a change of venue.

Since civic works are under way at Nageshwara Rao Park, the venue is not fully suitable for an art show, says a post on Facebook. It meanwhile wants people to keep their artworks ready.

In August 2024, for the first time, Government College of Fine Arts in Egmore organised an art exhibition on the Egmore Museum premises.

In 2023, Anna Nagar Tower Park got to host the Tamil Nadu Art and Craft Trust Expo 2023 but with conditions. Greater Chennai Corporation did not give permission for artworks to be sold, they could only be exhibited. “That was the condition laid down to me to use this venue and we agreed as we wanted to give many struggling artists a platform and to some extent the open air exhibition served its purpose,” says the organiser Jaffer Beig who is a member of Tamil Nadu Artists Association.

Ganapathy Subramaniam of Art Fest says they too were asked not to promote the event as a “sales event”. “Art requires a lot of promotion, so the least support we ask for is that Greater Chennai Corporation give us space,” says Ganapathy.

Like the Chitra Sante held annually on the streets of a neighbourhood in Bengaluru, such events need continuity and some support from the government or the civic body in terms of providing a venue that can draw people. Jaffer is looking for a space to host the art exhibition this year but he can only afford a minimal amount as fee.

Ganapathy says not all public spaces are suited for hosting an art event. “Nageshwara Rao Park was right in every sense from location to size and the space plays host to various events including the Mylapore Fest so we did not have to promote it,” he says.

Selvakannan Rathinam, founder, Indian Art Factory, says organising an event of such scale is not easy. “I have paid the Horticulture Department ₹75,000 towards rent for a day, which is fine but I have been requesting a waiver in entry fee for visitors on the D-Day or it would not draw the public,” says Selvakannan.

From 125 artists in the first edition, this time the event has 525 people, 70 from other states, taking part in it. “We do not have an application process to shortlist artists; we look at the Instagram profile and their artworks and charge ₹1500 per stall and they have a conformed space at the venue,” says Selvakannan. As a self-taught artist he has faced many rejections from art galleries so he does not like to shortlist participants.

Last year, the artist community made ₹ 4 lakh selling works. This time, our target is ₹ 25 lakh, so we want a good footfall, he says.

Lessons from Chitra Santhe

A majority of organisers of art events and artists will swear by Bengaluru’s Chitra Santhe. Happening for the last 22 years, the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath organises this art festival around its campus and extend it to a few VIP roads on the first Sunday of January.

Streets are strictly pedestrian only for the entire day, vehicular traffic is diverted for art to spread out in all forms, shapes and sizes. So big has this street art festival grown that this year the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation offered feeder services to the venue and Namma Yatri offered free autorickshaw rides.

Shashidhar Rao S.N., general secretary, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, says the festival has had its own set of challenges that were ironed out gradually.

Last year, 1,800 artistes from 22 states presented their works and over six lakh people attended the day-long festival. A number of the participants are from rural areas of Karnataka who get a platform. “A number of stalls have sold more than ₹3 lakh worth of art and we don’t charge any commission from them except the registration fee of ₹ 1000 that covers breakfast, lunch and accommodation for outstation artists,” says Rao.

From a manual process, three years ago an exclusive website was designed for participants to process their application form, know whether they are shortlisted and make the payment.

Does the Karnataka government fund the event? Rao says the government has been supportive but they don’t have a fixed amount being given every year. “Sometimes promises are made and sometimes we get only 20% of the amount but we have no complaints. We are happy with the support various departments give us including by cordoning off vehicles for 12 hours which is a big challenge in a city like Bengaluru,” he says.

Rao says registration fee is one component through which the expenses of organising this festival is met. Given the increasing crowd that has been turning up for the event, the Parishath has been mulling about moving it to a park.