Indian State Hosts Over 1300 Artists In The Annual Art Fair

Celebrating art is one of the ancient traditions of many countries in the world. Every year the city of Bengaluru, India celebrates with colors in an art fair known as the Chitra Santhe held at Chitrakala Parishath (CKP).

As reported by The Times Of India, approximately 350,000 people attended the fair on a daily basis. Inaugurated a day after the holy festival of harvest - Sankranti, this fair saw artists coming from all parts of the country to display their talent.

These artworks range from modern art to contemporary work, painting to pottery, and line drawings to photo-realism. Sources claim these artworks fetched over 20 millions.

The efforts of CKP in order to sustain an atmosphere of art and culture through this fair has been highly appreciated by the honorable Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah, "The government's support to art will persist and CKP would have a sprawling second campus by the next Chitra Santhe scheduled on January 7, 2018. The government has granted Rs 20 crore for the CKP Fine Arts College and Rs 12 crore has already been released."

The effort has been duly acknowledged by the President of CKP B L Shankar who confirmed that the construction for the campus will start in March and will be done in two phases over a span of four years, costing 350 millions and stretching over half a hectare of land.

According to The Hindu the most appealing factor of this fair is its affordability. Over 1300 artists from 16 states with 80000 paintings attended the fair without any commission to be submitted to the authority. However the Indian Government's surprise demonetization and banning of higher currency did affect the sales.

"Last year we saw a nearly Rs. 3 crore sale, this year we expect sales to come down by nearly 20 per cent due to cash liquidity issues, although SBM and Canara Bank have their ATM and swipe card machines installed," Said B.L. Shankar.

Chitra Santhe has been a pioneer in building bridges between artists and art lovers since its inception. Government, Artists and Patrons wholehearted support is expected to expand the art fair's reach and put Bengaluru on the global art map.

TagsIndia, Bengaluru, Arts, Painting, Pottery, modern art