Renowned sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik unveils a new side of his art in Chennai

“Life is similar sand. You tin clasp it successful your hand, but it slips away. I judge that we indispensable permission thing down that lasts and makes an impression, and paintings are my my mode of doing that,” says Sudarshan Pattnaik, renowned soil artist, who has won respective accolades including the Padma Shri and a Guinness World Record for creating the world’s largest sandcastle, usually connected the beaches of Puri, Odisha.

The creator was precocious successful Chennai, to contiguous his 3rd assemblage amusement Nature’s Rhythm: Sand and Sublime, astatine the Lalit Kala Akademi. Comprising implicit 50 creation works, the accumulation brought unneurotic Sudarshan’s 2 worlds — paintings and sand. Each enactment had immoderate constituent of Nature, and helium had utilized soil from his hometown Puri, wherever helium archetypal began doing soil art. 

“I started doing soil creation due to the fact that we did not person resources to bargain paints and brushes. Tourists utilized to spot my creation and admit it, truthful it inspired maine to support going,” says Sudarshan, adding that helium dilatory grew into an creator contempt the hardships of being a kid labourer. “I utilized to enactment successful a beverage store adjacent the Jagannath Temple, and the tourists would spot my watercolour paintings there, but arsenic I got celebrated for soil art, I near paintings behind. I privation to bring that backmost now,” helium says. 

The exhibition, which was antecedently displayed astatine Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, and past astatine Galleria VSB, New Delhi, explores the conflicts arising from quality interventions. “All these paintings person a transportation to Nature and clime change. This 1 is astir the turtle migration and the interaction of quality beingness connected Nature,” helium says pointing retired to a coating depicting Olive Ridley turtles that migrate to India’s East seashore for nesting each year. These turtles person been turning up connected coasts dormant owed to entanglement successful sportfishing nets from amerciable and unregulated trawling.

“I judge that creation comes from everywhere. In large cities determination are avenues for artists to show their art, but successful smaller cities and towns, determination are nary galleries. I managed to unfastened 8 galleries successful 8 districts successful Odisha,” helium says. Sudarshan, who went connected to go Lalit Kala Akademi Odisha’s youngest president, says that creation holds an important relation of spreading positivity and raising consciousness successful society.