A fantastic art event!

May 4, 2014: Over 60 Rotarians from our club and from clubs in the city converged for a splendid and unique event - an exhibition of paintings by our eminent member, Rtn. Surya Prakash, who is a nationally famous artist, and an opportunity - for Rotarians only - to pick up signed, digitally-printed reproductions of ten of his paintings, while contributing to funding our Literacy Projects.

The LV Prasad Eye Institute auditorium was an excellent venue, with its spacious foyer which serves as a gallery for Rtn. Surya Prakash's lovely paintings. During the formal function, President Champaka made a presentation of the great work that our club has done this year for the Government High School, Film Nagar. With an outlay of about Rs.10 lakhs from

our Charitable Trust, the SRD Foundation of Rtn. Chamala, and Dr. Vivekanand, brother of Rtn. Sharda Rao, we are on the way to making this government school like no other, with a lovely open-air stage; a computer centre with over 15 computers and a computer teacher; a properly furnished science laboratory; toilets in good condition with proper water supply; an activity centre with audio-visual facilities, library books and games; the list goes on.... During Champaka's presentation, which showed "before-and-after" depictions of what we have done, the audience interrupted several times with applause in appreciation of what they were seeing!

Next to mount the podium was Rtn. Vasanth Kumar, to introduce Rtn. Surya Prakash, the focus of the day's event. Vasanth provided a detailed account of the life of the artist, his early training at the College of Fine Arts at Hyderabad, his studies of various Indian artists at New Delhi and Hyderabad, and his development of his own distinguished style of work, which is now easily recognisable. Rtn. Surya Prakash's paintings adorn the National Art Gallery, New Delhi, as well as several other notable galleries. One of his paintings is also at the PM's residence in New Delhi, as also in many Hotels and corporate HQs. In conclusion, Vasanth also revealed that he had known the artist ever since he was a small boy, since Rtn. Surya Prakash is his father's brother!

It was then time to show the video presentation - A Quest for Identity. This 19-minute video conceived and executed by Rtn. Surya Prakash in 2002, took the audience through Indian art from the earliest cave paintings, the remarkable wall paintings at Ajanta, and the works of all the great artists of the country across time and  genres.
The artist finally presented images of all the ten prints that have been digitally reproduced on canvas and framed and are for sale exclusively to Rotarians at a special price of Rs.25,000. He took the audience through the evolution of his art, which started with impressionist depiction of mangled motor parts, went on to leaves in various forms, and a nature series.
The gathering then adjourned to the foyer for a further viewing of the paintings and the prints, and it was gratifying that we received orders from a dozen Rotarians on the spot, with a few others wishing to get back after consulting their spouses/families. Everyone also enjoyed the sumptuous lunch, hosted by Rtn. Surya Prakash.
This is a good start to our fund-raising efforts and we need to give a huge THANK YOU to Rtn. Surya Prakash for coming forth with this idea and generously providing the paintings for reproduction!

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Cheers.

Raghav