Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

An art festival at Poompuhar

Sandhya Soman

The `Indian Paintings' exhibition is on till February 18

A WIDE RANGE: Artists Srinivasan and T. Sekaran with their `batik' works at the Poompuhar showroom. — Photo: S. Thanthoni

CHENNAI: T. Sekaran brings out his block of wax and brush and gestures animatedly to show how he makes his handmade clothes, on sale at the Poompuhar showroom.

Sekaran, a speech and hearing impaired person, learnt the basics of creating batik prints at a training institute for the disabled in Santhome in the late 70s.

Now he has a range of products — from handkerchiefs to cloth paintings — to show.

Most of his products are priced between Rs.200 and Rs.600.

Poompuhar officials say they never forget to call Sekaran and his working partner, Srinivasan, for an exhibition-cum-sale.

Besides this Chennai-based duo, 13 craftspersons have been roped in to set up stalls at the expo on February 8.

Paint has been liberally applied on glass, silk, cloth, palm leaf, canvas and gold foil to create traditional Rajasthani miniature paintings, gem stone paintings, and kalamkari bags and stoles. Madhavi Rao from Vijayawada, says her `jholas' and straight skirts with `kalamkari' work have many takers in the city, recalling the last time she brought them to Poompuhar.

Shivshankar, who says, each miniature has a story to tell, has brought his collection of paintings from Kishangarh in Ajmer.

Sudhir Jain's miniature paintings on "old stamp paper" are strictly for those who don't mind shelling out Rs.450 for the sake of art.

The exhibition regulars include bejewelled Mughal matrons regally looking down from pen stands and key holders.

Poompuhar's `Indian Paintings' exhibition offers a 10 per cent discount on items on display till February 18 at 108, Anna Salai, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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