Art on Wheels

The chic auto rickshaws that were recently unveiled at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week 2010 were auctioned at The Claridges on Saturday. The 13 ordinary autos metamorphosed into artefacts under the creative brush strokes of leading contemporary artists,that include names like artist Jayasri Burman,designer Nitin Bal Chauhan,Nida Mahmood and several others. The proceeds of the auction,an enterprise of the NGO Khushii,Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and the World Action Forum,will be used to raise funds for various causes like educating children,empowering village communities etc.

Called “Art on Wheels”,the auction saw some very enthusiastic bidders. Designer Leena Singh,governing board member of Khushii ,talked about helping the “unglamourous world.” The highest bid however,was made for splendidly painted Roopmati by the all-women artist trio of Jayasri Burman,Nayanna Kanodia and Mithu Sen. Other autos which garnered enthusiastic response were the feisty orange Pawan Putra Hanuman by Satish Gupta,Kunwarji di Gaddi,an auto with hi-tech features by Dileep Sharma and Family Auto by Farhaad Hussain.