The canvas that comes from within

The National Institute of Fine Arts (NIFA) organises 'Urge’, an annual exhibition for students who are pursuing a career in the fine arts, and the city recently witnessed its 14th edition. It showcased around 120 works by 55 diploma student-artists. With an aim to give the students a platform, and encourage them to create original artwork, the event took place at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, Rafi Marg.

Renu Khera, the curator of the exhibition, believes that these kinds of displays can give motivation to young artists that art can be taken as a serious career. She says, “I always tell my students that in these first few exhibitions, you must not think about the field and must only worry about how people are reacting to your work, how they are liking and appreciating it and how you can do better and perform. So that’s the whole idea of it.”

There were a few senior artists who visited the exhibition to guide the students about their works, like Biman Bihari Das, a sculptor- artist and a Padma Shri winner. Also present with Das was Niladri Paul, The artists interacted with the students present there.

By Khushi

Khera says, “This exhibition was planned three months before its final date; I personally sat with each and every participant to understand what they want to depict using their art, and I helped them execute those ideas.” .”  

She also talks about the challenges she faced in the process. “In a group exhibition it is always a challenge as you have a number of paintings with various sizes which can create problems in display and there should also be proper lighting as well,” recalls Khera.

Priyanka Kumar who is part of NIFA since the last two years, has worked with mainly water colour and acrylics. During ‘Urge’ she displayed three paintings based on fengshui but used acrylics throughout. “Mainly, I was thinking about the good things, good luck and healthy and successful lives people long for. So I just made it a theme for my paintings,” she says.

Another artist present at the exhibition was Richika Somani, who uses oil and acrylic as her medium for her paintings. Talking about her collection she says, “As an artist, I wanted to highlight the traditions and cultural dance forms of India.” Somani says, “It was a great experience to be part of the exhibition. I learned a lot about painting as an art and various other styles people use. It was really a great learning experience interacting with students, faculty members and guests during the exhibition.”