Lalit Kala Akademi’s annual exhibit to take place in Mumbai

By Siddhi Jain

Mumbai, March 8 (IANS) The 60th National Exhibition of Art, an annual event by the Lalit Kala Akademi, is all set to host works by artists selected in Tier 1 of the 60th National Academy Awards, which are expected to be announced by March 13.

The exhibition, one of the grandest and most prestigious events for the national academy of art, will showcase in the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) and Sir JJ School of Art here a vast repository of unseen works by the selected artists, Lalit Kala Akademi Chairperson Uttam Pacharne told IANS.

At least three special exhibitions by veteran, invited and tribal artists will also be on view. The exhibition will take place from March 25 to April 8.

As per Lalit Kala Akademi data, the awards, which will be given to 15 winners, received over 6,100 entries by 2,836 artists this year. The figures indicate a significant -- almost double -- jump from last year's 1,433 artists applying for the awards.

The entries received last year were a little above 3,600, which also seem to have almost doubled.

The National Academy Awards will now be announced by a Tier 2 jury, which will hopefully go on floor by this weekend, Pacharne, a renowned sculptor, said.

Works of art are always inspired by the society, according to him.

"The society gives the topical food for thought to the artist, who then reflects what she or he feels and sees on the canvas."

He also hopes that the exhibition will help establish that Indian art is at par with international art, and that it reflects the "times we're in" globally.

The final 15 winning artworks and artists will be selected out of the pool of 286.

While selecting the larger pool, the jury, whose names are being withheld till the final selection, noted in its report: "While it is important to underline that the senior artists follow their established styles, the younger ones show certain amount of experimental verve to chart their future artistic careers."

The jury appointed by the Akademi has also selected 17 veteran artists for a special section in the exhibition for their "lifetime achievement in art". Some of them are Ram V. Sutar, G.S. Gaitonde, Akbar Padamsee, and Tyeb Mehta.

Seven contemporary artists -- named by jury as the "seven shades of the rainbow" who make India's colour palette strong -- have been nominated under the 'invited' category for the exhibition. They are: D. Venkatapathy, Brij Mohan Sharma, Jayesh Shukla, Neeraj Gupta, Viren Tanwar, Ganpath Shankar Majgaonkar and Sudhakar Vitthal Chavan.

About 80-100 tribal artists will also find space in the special exhibitions.

According to an Akademi official, a collateral event which will kick off in parallel to the exhibition will be the Akademi's Kala Mela 2019, an art fair that promotes new artistic trends. A unique creative platform, it will have about 150 stalls for displaying artworks by artists, art organisations, galleries or other bodies.

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)

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