Delhi: New Art makes public places sparkle with wall paintings

A team of artists has been working on compositions ranging from phulkari patterns to farming, charkha to sportspeople playing hockey and gulli danda. “Memories play a vital role in imagination and when people see something that is familiar, they connect with it,” says Prateek Sachan, 27, co-founder of The New Art.

The organisation working on hand-painted wall art is the brainchild of Sachan and Ritesh Verma and was conceived when the two were students of chemical engineering at IIT Delhi. Opting not to sit for campus placements, the two wanted to work in the art space in India and start their own venture.

Canvas painting that portrays CST Station in Mumbai

The “Sundarbans” themed artwork at Sealdah Metro station in Kolkata

“We did a lot of explorations while in college and that was when we got exposed to the street art scene in India,” says Verma. It was while working on a project to rehaul the Swami Vivekananda Hostel in Satna, Madhya Pradesh, in 2017, that they truly realised the potential for wall art in India as the murals they did in the hostel hall garnered attention and appreciation.

“We were doing rebranding, digitisation and providing other services to the hostel, but also decided to collaborate with a few artist friends and paint some of the walls in the hall area. It came out really well and that was when we realised the potential opportunities in the category,” says 26-year-old Verma.

An artwork at Phoolbagan Metro station in Kolkata

The team’s first official artwork, at Dabri Mor Metro station. The artwork is inspired from Madhubani art form and is part of the many “Wings for women” themed artworks done across Delhi

With no background in art, the groundwork involved picking up the nuances, putting together a team of artists and designers as well as understanding the operations of street art in the country.

“IIT-Delhi has a very active fine art society and a lot of the initial artists were our friends. After the journey began, we got in touch with several more and built a network of artists we liked,” says Sachan.

Over the years, the team has worked with several organisations, including Indian Railways, universities and over 30 metro stations across the NCR (national capital region) — from Janakpuri to Vasant Vihar metro station. The Delhi Metro was their first official client in 2018.

Every project, Verma notes, requires specific research and the artwork often sends out a message or represents the surrounding. For instance, if the mural at Mandawali metro station urges commuters to preserve our diverse flora and fauna, Johri Enclave metro station has portraits of renowned musicians such as Ustad Bismillah Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Shubha Mudgal and Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia.

The artworks at the Dabri Mor-Janakpuri metro station use wings to depict how the metro is a safe means of transport. “The wings are representative of how the metro stands for freedom, liberty and strength of women. They also act as a picture point,” says Verma.

The recent months have also seen the organisation paint other towns, including Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur and some in Gujarat. In Kolkata too their team has been working on metro stations across the city, including Phoolbagan, Bengal Chemicals, Salt Lake Stadium and Karunamoyee. At the Sealdah metro station, the walls being painted depict the ‘art forms of Bengal’, while the Howrah Maidan station mural represents the ‘sports culture of Bengal’.

“There is a lot of appreciation and curiosity around street art from people,” notes Verma. Sachan adds: “All of us, even those not connected to the industry in any way have a very intuitive sense of what looks good and what doesn’t.”

Even as they are currently working on wall art projects across the country, the team is looking to expand its operations, act as a mediator between artists and potential buyers and venture into canvas painting.

“Most of our projects have been business-to-business but now we want to reach out to customers so that they can get something for their homes and reach out to artists if they want to commission something particular. We want to become a one-stop solution. We are also planning on having an inventory of painted canvases and prints. We picked up a niche, which is handpainted wall art, and now we will expand our portfolio,” says Verma.