Artists depict honking menace through paintings in unique exhibition

To create awareness about the adverse effects of honking, an art exhibition showcasing 21 paintings by artists from Kolkata, Shantiniketan and Vadodara is being held at a city mall to send out a powerful message to audiences. To fight against honking evil, these artists have created beautiful paintings that give out a message: “The importance of “No Honking”.

Ten artists have taken their formal art education in Kolkata and eleven artists have been educated in art from Vadodara. The artists from Kolkata are Jagannath Mohapatra, Anusuya Mohapatra, Malleshi HV, Shyamali Haldar, Debraj Goswami, Rajib Lochan Pani, Diptish Ghosh Dastidar, Prantik Chattopadhyay, Ananya Dalal and Thakere Naik.

Artists from Vadodara includes Debasish Dutta, Jaldip Chauhan, Sanjay Rajwar, Jignasha Doshi, Rahul Mukherjee, Amarnath Sharma, Nimisha Rao, Poorva Nimkar, Shanta Rakshit, Sanket Viramgami and Sheetal Kaluskar. 

Since art is one of the most powerful tools of visual communication, these “creative” paintings probably have the power to awaken viewers without hurting their ego. “We all are suffering from this hazard but we don’t care about it because we have adapted to the situation. We are the reason for this problem. It has become a common practise to honk in a traffic jam, at midnight, in front of hospitals, schools. People do this because honking is deeply rooted in their subconscious minds”, said Sachin Kaluskar, curator of this exhibition.

Held at one Kolkata’s premier shopping malls, the exhibition was inaugurated by Suvendu Adhikari, Bengal’s Minister of Transport and Jogen Chowdhury, renowned artist and Trinamool Congress MP. The exhibition will be open to the public till September 11. The exhibition will travel to the city’s schools and colleges after September 11 to create awareness about the ills of indiscriminate honking.