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Art gallery to come up in Bhubaneswar

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government would set up an art gallery in the capital soon with the funds received from the 12th Finance Commission for development of culture and tourism.

Culture Secretary Mr.Gopinath Mohanty told The Hindu that the gallery would be known as Utkal Art Gallery and would come up at a cost of Rs.2-crore on the second floor of the Orissa State Museum.

It would house art works of the prominent artists of the State and would provide a state-of-the-art gallery for hosting exhibitions; he said and added that for its geographical location, the gallery would be an added attraction for the large number of tourists visiting the State capital.

It would act as a hub of art activities involving artistes of the State and outside, he hoped.

The State has just two galleries in the city - Rashtriya Lalit Kala Kendra’s regional centre at Kharavela Nagar and Orissa Modern Art Gallery in Forest Park being run by a Trust.

The new gallery would, however, be the largest one in the State.

It took the government two years to decide the location of the gallery. At first, the Orissa Lalit Kala Akademi was provided Rs.50 lakh to build up the gallery on the Samskruti Bhawan premises adjacent to the State Museum where the four State-owned Akademis are located.

However, for some strange reasons later, B.K. College of Art and Crafts on the outskirts of the city was preferred to be the gallery’s ideal venue.

The decision sparked off resentment among the artists’ community who opposed the government’s move to set up its gallery at an inaccessible place.

Incidentally, a team of experts from the Public Works Department inspected the college building and opined that it was not suitable for expansion to set up the gallery on the first floor.

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