Keekli Reporter, 27th May, 2015, Shimla
Deputy Commissioner, Shimla Dinesh Malhotra said here today that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will inaugurate the Shimla Art Festival on 28th May, 2015 at Gaiety Theatre Shimla in the evening as the minister would also be the chief guest on the occasion of celebration in commemoration of 200 years of Institution of the Deputy Commissioner at Shimla. The hon’ble minister will also inaugurate the Pensioners Felicitation Centre, Record Room for Urban and Rural Tehsil Shimla under National Land Record Modernization Project and Model Tehsil. Malhotra said that such projects would go a long way for simplifying procedures and process for effective public service delivery besides a step towards good governance.
During the art festival six national reputed artists from six different states are going to perform in public. K.K Gandhi from Jammu will give his demonstration on a big canvas at Ridge. Professor S.N. Lehri, a well know artist and principal of College of Fine Arts, Delhi; Ram Viranjan Artist from Hariyana and Chairman Department of Fine Arts, Kurukshetra University; Chandrakant Prajapati from Surat, Gujrat; Baldev Gambhir from Amritsar and Dr. Anand Sharma from Chandigarh, College of Fine Arts all are going to paint in the multipurpose hall at Gaiety.
Malhotra also said that besides this all neighbouring fine arts college of north India and their students will exhibit their art works. He said that 20 artists from Shimla will also paint depicting the glory of Shimla. He said that students and budding artists from the department of visual arts, H.P.U. will paint Shimla from different angles. He said that most attraction of the Shimla Art Festival would be a live 3D painting on the Mall and Ridge and live portrait making and calligraphy art performances will be given by 10 artists. He said that shimla school children competition would be held on three consecutive days.
He said that on the concluding day all art works produced during the festival will be displayed at Gaiety, the Mall Shimla at 6 pm. He further added that the art festival was a fascination for localities as well as tourists. He said that mountains had been a source of wonder and inspiration for human societies and cultures since time immemorial. The ecology of Shimla was conducive and mountains had clean air, diverse and beautiful landscapes and rich biodiversity.
Malhotra also said that Shimla was one of the beautiful places in the world. Its beauty inspired many prominent artists, writers, and poets. He said that since the late 1830s, the city remained the centre for theatre and art exhibitions in India. This city was an attractive place for the noble laureates and authors of great works such as Rabindranath Tagore, Rudyard Kipling, his father John Lockwood Kipling and for the maturity of political thoughts of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Ki. He said that Shimla remained prestigious place for artists to exhibit their works during British Raj like Gaganendranath Tagore and his solo show in Shimla in the year 1904. He said that similarly, Shimla remained the home for many prominent artists of India. From Amrita Sher-Gil in 1921, great painters like Ram Kumar and J. Swaminathan were born in Shimla; Krishen Khanna, Shobha Singh, Satish Gujral, Baniprosonno, and Sanat Chatterjee and many more lived here and created masterpieces.
