The most renowned artist in the world, Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, also known as Pablo Picasso once said, “There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun”.
A group of young artists in the city from different backgrounds are doing just that. They are bound by their art and a common cause, yes, ‘to transform this city’s yellow spots into a bright shining sun’.
Isiriart, a group of 10 active members along with volunteers have come up with a revolution in Street art terming it as ‘Bhavya Bharat’ – the group selects an abandoned wall and turns it to a masterpiece, making the wall tell a story, and brighening and coloring the surroundings.
When asked, how the idea evolved, Vicky – a team member talking to Newskarnataka.com said, “We four members among others, work as graphic designers in a company near Ballalbagh. One day some do-gooder came and cleaned the wall near our office, however after few days the wall was again a mess.”
He continued, “We became very sad seeing this. For long, we had the idea in our minds to create something in Street Art as the concept was not yet known in the region. Thus we thought that there would be no better time to demonstrate it.”
Another member, Naveen said, “Whenever we are regular there are around 10 people actively working on an art work. He named a few – Suraj Rao, Nagesh B shetty, Rathan Ruby, Vikram Shetty, Sharath Kulal, Jayaram Navda, Bhavya, Divya, Abhilash, Nitesh, Harshit, Ranjit, Shreegandha, Abhishaya and others.
Painters, exhibitors, young graphic designers, lecturers, students and others complete this innovative group that aims to create an art work which will keep the dirty posters away from the streets and walls of Mangalore, they explained.
They said that the stree art piece also denotes a social message each time, sometimes on concrete jungle, sometimes on addiction among students or enlightening education and preserving environment.
Vicky says, “After selecting a wall, a lot of work goes into it, thinking of a theme, pre-sketching, designing and so on, we go and mop the place, before creating a layout”, he said candidly.
“It takes an entire weekend or approx two days to complete an art work. The material costs goup up to anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000, however, the entire group works for free and spends their entire weekend for the Noble cause”, they say.
When asked, what Isiriart means, they said, “Isiri stands for wealth in Kannada”, and truly Isiriart is wealthy in terms of Art. The group has worked on Central Library compound wall – Bavuta Gudde, Wall behind the Lalbagh bus stop, a wall at Ballalbagh, and several other places. Their current work includes beautifying a bus stop in front of Kadri Police station which is sponsored in collaboration with Ramkrishna Mission.
“For any artists the appreciation and support is the most powerful driving force, it is thats what drives us to take time out from our daily jobs and lives and keep working towards our vision of a beautiful city”, the group said.
