Street wise

Bramhanand Lahoti,a sculptor,feels that displaying creativity at public places requires lot of money and trouble,considering all the bureaucratese involved in the process. “I would love to exhibit my talent to the public but making the sculpture will depend completely on the place assigned,” he says.

In Pune,there are examples galore of art in public places,whether it is portions of the Yerwada Jail perimeter wall painted in gay colours or murals in city hotels and hangouts or even the many under-rated sculptures which grace city squares and roundabaouts.

Shobha Patki,a mural painter,says,“For an artist,it’s an honour to be able to paint in public places and contribute a little to making the city beautiful.” However,she adds,“These assignments change with a change in the government. As the new government comes to power,new paintings are made in place of older ones and that hampers creativity.”

An architect by profession,Sanjiv Joshi is looking forward to seeing a gallery outside the Bal Gandharv Rangmandir for locals. “Bridges in Pune are overcrowded at night because there is no proper public place to hang around. If there are enough public places with sculpture and paintings,it will help in standardising and beautifying Pune,” opines Joshi. “Given an opportunity,I’d like to design a Nana–Nani Park where one can find an amalgamation of sculpture and paintings. The University campus too can be used to showcase one’s creativity,” he adds.

According to artist Dilip Kadam any artwork that depicts information becomes popular. “There should be something new being said and created – the mere creation of the life-size statue of a public figure achieves no purpose,in my view,” adds Kadam. However,for Kavita Kumar,a mural painter,bold art and mythological art is the deal. “If mythological art is displayed in a public place,it works very well,since Indians are intrinsically religious,” she adds.

Clearly,there’s a lot of traffic on the city’s creative ‘avenues’. With a little more effort by both artists and authorities,Pune can easily acquire pride of place among the major public art destinations of the world.