Painting the Town

“All the chaos will make way for a beautiful cityscape and this is the hope I have tried to express through my work,” says Agarwal,1st-year Masters in Visual Arts (Creative Painting) student of the Lucknow Arts College,drawing attention to a huge canvas in acrylic titled Work in Progress which reminds of the condition of roads in most parts of the state capital and another called The City,which shines with good hope of how things would shape at the end of the ordeal.

Trees are a lietmotif in the work of this nature lover. The paintings depict a rebellious streak,taking a toll sometime on finesse. “Embellishing the image on the mind’s eye as you put it on canvas kills art. I try to portray my muse as it flashes on my mind,” says the Madan Lal Nagar Award recepient. Besides the paintings,there is an interesting installation called Hostel Life in which garments soaked in plaster of paris hang on a clothesline between two trees. Some canvases are shaped like T-shirts,the subject projected like a campaign. Agarwal has a long way to go,but the exhibition,on till Sunday,is good weekend viewing.