15 Lalit Kala awardees named

The Lalit Kala Akademi's National Exhibition of Art is held every year to exhibit the works of brilliance and to give appreciation and recognition to outstanding artists. The objective of the 59th National Exhibition of Art, 2017-18 is to showcase works of art of excellence both in terms of material application and aesthetic appeal. The exhibition will cover artworks from a broad range of mediums like paintings, sculptures, graphics, photographs, drawings, installation and multimedia.

For this exhibition, fifteen awardees have been chosen by an esteemed panel of Jury. 10 awards will be given to artists between 30-50 years of age group, and five awards will be distributed to artists who are above 50 years of age.

While Jyotiprakash Sethy (Bhubaneswar, Odisha), Vivek Kumar (New Delhi), Pappu Bardhan (Kolkata, West Bengal), Cherring Negi (New Delhi), Debashish Dutta (Vadodara, Gujarat), Indira P Ghosh (Raipur, Chattisgarh), Vikrant Vishwas Bhise (Mumbai, Maharashtra), Shivakumar Kesaramadu (Mysuru, Karnataka), Rabi Narayan Gupta (Khairagarh, Chhattisgarh), and Pradeep Prathap (Kottayam, Kerela) are the 10 awardees that fall in the 30-50 year age group; Pankaj Gahlot (Shivganj, Rajasthan), Kumaran K R (Angamaly, Kerela), Atin Basak (Kolkata, West Bengal), Amit Dutt (New Delhi), and Amit Chakraborty (Kolkata, West Bengal) fall in the latter category.

The jury of the exhibition had art practitioners, artists and critics from all over the country. The Lalit Kala Akademi nominated five members selection jury for the first tier namely Prof. Shyam Sharma (Patna, Bihar), Noni Borpuzari (Guwahati, Assam), Ramdas Adyanthaya (Mysuru, Karnataka), V Nagdas (Khairagarh, Chhattisgarh), and Johny ML (New Delhi).

The second tier jury for the selection of awards consisted of Ram V Sutar (Noida, Uttar Pradesh), Surya Prakash (Hyderabad, Telangana), Madan Lal (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh), U Bhaskar Rao (Bengaluru, Karnataka), and Prof. R B Bhaskaran (Chennai, Tamil Nadu).

"The 59th National Exhibition of Art is more than just an exercise in participation and contribution of the art practitioners from all over the country. It ideates the truth that art is more than a mere conversation between art lovers and artists: it is the bond between the initiator and the spectator," said C S Krishna Setty, Administrator, Lalit Kala Akademi.

The Akademi has received 3644 entries submitted by 1433 artist throughout the country. The selection jury unanimously selected 172 exhibits in different disciplines by 171 artists for the National exhibition.

Eminent artists like Bose Krishnamachari, Manu Parekh, KS Radhakrishnan, Adwaita Gadanayak, Jyoti Bhatt, LN Tallur and N Pushpamala are a part of the very esteemed invited section.