The 2012 Delhi gang rape case that shook the entire country was the inspiration for Mumbai-based Manipuri artist Dinesh Singh's steel and bronze sculpture titled "Innocence."
Singh has built a life size sculpture of a young woman in bronze to bring to the notice how society plays an important role in supporting victims of sexual violence.
An ongoing exhibition titled, "Master Strokes" at the Visual Arts Gallery here is showcasing artworks, by both veteran and emerging artists, that reflect their respective inner-most thoughts.
"The artist struggles and aspires to imitate the ideas in his mind which manifest in master strokes. The creation reflects the uniqueness of the individual self, of what one sees, perceives, contemplates and meditates," Kishore Labar, curator of the exhibition, says.
To deliver his message, Singh has placed several pairs of hands on a mirror finished steel platform beneath the sculpture of the woman to help the society reflect within itself and realise their role.
"Through my work I want to give the message that the society, family and friends must support anybody who has been a victim of violence.
"I also want to tell that the society plays a great role in the upbringing of an individual, if the youth goes astray, family and friends have the responsibility to bring them back to the right path," Singh says.
He renders a wooden texture to the sculpture to give an extended earthly feeling and a better understanding of the subject.
Another city-based artist Priyadarshi Gautam, finds his
inspiration in nature. He replicates the photographs of iconic landscapes from across the world, into oil paintings, giving it a personal touch.
Some of his works include scenes depicting 'cable car ride in the Swiss Alps','a landscape of a famous German peak' and 'para gliding in the Solang Valley in Manali."
"Nowadays artists don't need to travel physically. That used to happen in the earlier days when they would sit at the spot and paint. Now there is the Internet and I look at the photographs and paint with my personal touch," Gautam says.
Kusum Jain who has been creating fibre sculptures has been in the profession for two decades now. She says she looks around herself and all things spiritual to find subjects for her art.
Jain works in mixed media - bronze and fiber - to bring a multitude of expressions to her creations.
Her works include sculptures of multi-faced Buddha, Radha-Krishna, lovers et all.
"The purpose of my work is to provoke a perceptual, internal, and intellectual response in the viewer," she says.
Hamlet Shougrakpam, who is an art teacher at a Central school in Rohtak, reinterprets the folklores of Kings and Queens "that our parents used to narrate to us while we were young" through his "Revival" series.
"The basic instinct of every living being looks for revival and I revive the folklores that I heard as a child in my artworks," Shougrakpam says.
The show also features few works by stalwarts like SH Raza, MF Hussain and FN Souza.
The selling show is set to continue till May 13. The artworks are priced between Rs 20,000 to Rs 8 lakhs.
