Strokes of concern

When something as powerful as art can make a contribution to society, instead of just being a piece of decoration on one’s wall, you know that the world is heading towards a good place. Art for Concern is doing just that this weekend.

The 10th edition of this art show will have on sale, works by some seriously fabulous artists, and a privileged few will have the chance to get their hands on them. “Art For Concern is our annual show that has been happening in Mumbai for the last 20 years; that is ever since CIF started in 1991. We now host it in cities including Kolkata, Pune, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad. Art for Concern Bangalore was first organised in 2003 and since then it has grown to become one of the most anticipated, prestigious and awaited exhibitions of contemporary art in the city,” says Pampa Chowdhury, branch manager CIF, Bangalore, as she continues to explain about the organisation and its philanthropic activities.

“We are a registered trust that works in the field of education, health and community development. We work with children including special children, women and the elderly. We have more than 250 projects across India. And based on issues we take up projects — for instance in Karnataka we have about 16 projects in urban and rural regions. We cover over 14 villages in Haveri and Ranebennuru where we started working with women farmers and formed self-help groups. We are also running programmes in Banaswadi,” she explains.

Coming back to Art For Concern, Pampa says that this show has evolved over the years. “We try to raise funds for our projects through various events and donations and art is the one thing that helps us raise a fair amount of money.

We have various senior artists supporting us; you will find artists who are selling their work at half the actual price and you will also find some who have simply donated their works for the cause. We have on display works that are priced anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 70,000,” she shares.

So where do the funds go? “Whatever money is raised goes towards a central budget and is distributed and used for all causes and projects across cities. All proceeds from the exhibition will be utilised by Concern India Foundation to work towards its objective of making the disadvantaged self-reliant, thereby enabling them to lead a life of dignity,” Pampa adds.

How difficult is it, to put something of this magnitude together? “The art we put on display goes through very strict quality check. We have a central art team that functions from our head office in Mumbai to ensure all the criteria are  met.

We promote good art and it’s not just by senior artists, but also by upcoming and amateur talent. With an aim to provide a platform to showcase their works, we try to get 10 new artists every time.”

This edition of Bangalore took the team almost six months to put together. “Along with all the national artists, we are featuring some from Karnataka as well.

We have a good mix of painters from across the country who will showcase different forms of art on multiple mediums. Some of the participating artists include Akbar Padamsee, Jogen Chowdhury, Vrindavan Solanki, T Vaikuntam, Suhas Ray, G Subramaniam, Ajay De and Bratin Khan,” she ends.