With its first festival in Bengaluru, St+art brought some of the best Indian and International artists to several key areas across the city. The artists took inspiration from the rich history of the city, depicting its past, present and future, while also speaking about its socio-political realities. The works ranged from murals to installations. Spots for these artworks were chosen in regions ranging from Ulsoor and Dhanvantri Road to Church Street and Brigade Road.
Ulsoor
New Delhi-based street artist Anpu Varkey painted in Ulsoor, right next to the then newly formed Metro line. Located in Central Bangalore, Ulsoor is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of the city. Choosing a wall in a busy part of the locality, Anpu chose to paint a Moon as her central character, as she wanted to establish it as that 'one big object' in the sky that we could all connect with.
In an age where everyone is seeking connections using mediums like social media, we miss something as big as the moon, which we hardly look at anymore. Every person has wished upon the moon at some point in their life, and the moon represents our collective hopes and desires.
- Anpu, artist
Harvest Moon kept the larger public in mind - people who may not be on Facebook or Instagram, but will pass by the area and hopefully identify with the piece.
Palace Road Underpass
Bangalore has white and blue lines painted across the city, which can be seen across flyovers and next to the footpaths. Daan Botlek decided to play with this motif for his work. Daan divided the entire stretch of Bangalore’s Palace Road underpass into sections. The main motif in Botlek’s work is Greek philosopher Protagoras’ famous quote, ‘Man is the measure of all things'. This artwork followed his signature style of featuring indiscernible characters depicted engaging in various activities with their surroundings.
In terms of interpretations about his art, this is what Daan had to say.
"The meaning of the works is never clear or explained. There are an infinite number of interpretations for the images, any one of which may be considered valid (relativism). The audience is challenged to participate in the creation of the story; a meaning is generated in the process of sorting things out (curiosity)."
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Across the city
New Delhi-based street artist Daku created numerous small art interventions in varying parts of the city, all of which critiqued some aspects of the city’s life which affected its citizens.
Bangalore has, in recent times, developed a massive traffic issue with long jams in peak office hours. Daku made paste-ups of Snails as a way to talk of the slow moving nature of Bangalore traffic at some prime spots. The snails were made at the Raj Bhavan Road - Bangalore Division, nearby Cubbon Park and Shivaji Grounds.
There has also been a massive shortage of water in the state, with water shortage becoming a major issue for its citizens, and government. Daku critiqued this through a stencil based work which showed empty pots of water and a tap with a few drops left, as a way to reflect an issue a lot of people were suffering from. These were made at Brigade Road - One of the biggest commercial centres and busiest shopping areas, connecting MG Road with Residency Road.
He also ran a project called A4Art where he put up A4-sized printouts of captions which wanted people to find hidden messages in public spaces. These were in Malleshwaram Area - A north-western suburb, which hosts people from all walks of life
Kempegowda, a ruler under the Vijaynagara Empire, founded the city of Bengaluru in 1537. Bangalore-based artist Ullas Hydoor’s paid tribute to Kempegowda by making a large portrait of the warrior on the Dhanvantri Road.
"We live in a city, continually creating spaces for ourselves without realising its impact on the city itself. So my mural reminds us to pause and consider the things we are building on the hallowed grids of Bengaluru, which were laid out by the planner Kempegowda.”
- Ullas
Commenting on the various issues faced by the city and its residents, anonymous artist Guesswho created small interventions in 3 locations across the city. His works ranged from speaking about the language politics in the city to gentrification.
