Amidst cash crunch woes, Art Haat springs to life

Art Haat – a melting pot of rural and urban artists showcasing their paintings, sculpture, installations, ceramics – took off at Arts Acre in Rajarhat on Friday afternoon.

The four-day festival, which has the flavour of a haat (rural marketplace) will sell affordable art and artifacts to people who are wary of spending cash in an era of demonetisation.

The haat was inaugurated by Honorary Secretary of the Crafts Council of West Bengal Ruby Pal Choudhury and Chairman of HIDCO Debashish Sen, in the presence of veteran artist Shuvaprasanna, the Founder of Arts Acre and the creator of Art Haat.

Conceived by Shuvaprasanna, the event aims to showcase works of art priced between Rs 2,000 and Rs 50,000.

“There are paintings on offer by Shipra Bhattacharjee, myself, Sanat Kar, Rabin Mondol, Ramananda Bandopadhyay, Shanu Lahiri and others. There are quite a few young artists from the city as well. From rural Bengal, there are artisans who are selling their unique creations in wood, dokra and jute. It’s a melting pot of Bengal’s art, which, to us, is rather close to life”, Shuvaprasanna told Millennium Post.

About 150 artists, who have put up stalls at the art event, have not paid for booking stalls except for erecting a minimalist structure. Some of the artists, who are exhibiting from their own stalls, are also using the card swiping system being used by bigger stalls due to the cash crunch.

“People are a little reluctant to pay in cash. I intend to make this an annual affair from now on”, Shuvaprasanna added.