The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : The world in a grain of sand

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Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
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The world in a grain of sand

Ranjani Govind

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Awe inspiring: Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik with his work in Bangalore on Wednesday.

BANGALORE: Although any sculptor would want his creation to be a permanent piece of art, Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik thinks differently.

“Since human life is not permanent, I would expect my art to be an enduring one in people’s memory,” he says, not perturbed that his creations are ephemeral and therefore knocked down after a show.

Mr. Pattnaik was in Bangalore in connection with his sand art for Tata Housing wherein a 5-ft sculpture of Aquila Heights was unveiled. This three-tower luxury residential complex that is coming up within the HMT Township at Jalahalli will soon become the city’s tallest residential tower touching 105 metres.

For Pattnaik and his students, it took five days and 45 tonnes of sand to reproduce the residential complex model that now occupies a huge expanse at Garuda Mall’s Atrium. It will be on display for a week.

Pattnaik’s rendezvous with sand began as a seven-year-old, when he used to make small time play models at Orissa’s Puri beach. “Sand was the prasad that Lord Jagannath’s bestowed on me and I have been associated with the soft earthy matter for 25 years now,” he says. Pattnaik now runs his Sudarsan Sand Art Institute in Puri which has more than 100 students. Before the Beijing Olympics got off to a colourful start, Pattnaik wanted to wish the Indian contingents with his eight-hour work ‘Sandy Olympic Stadium.’ Hundreds of tourists thronged the Puri beach for a glimpse of the mind-blowing art that showed 300 events with 10,000 athletes taking part. Pattnaik recently bagged the World Champion title at Berlin’s World Sand Championships. He has so far participated in more than 37 international sand sculpture contests across the world and has won innumerable awards. Through his art, he has helped create awareness for the tsunami victims in India, helped the endangered Olive Ridley Turtles, and spread understanding of the dangers of AIDS and polio.

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