PAINTING EXHIBITION

PAINTING EXHIBITION

Amidst controversies, the art show titled “Sightseeing Trip” by contemporary German painter Eberhard Havekost will begin at Durbar Hall, Kochi, on Saturday,21^st April,2012. Union Minister K.V. Thomas will inaugurate the exhibition, which is being organised by the Dresden State Art Collections, in collaboration with the Kochi Biennale Foundation and with support from the Department of Cultural Affairs.Mr. Havekost is described as one of the most important artists of his generation. Born in Dresden in 1967, he studied painting at the renowned Dresden Art Academy. He has earned international acclaim and major museums and private collections feature his works.

“Sightseeing Trip” is his search for motifs and situations that reflect the urban lifestyle of a consumer society. “He perceives the complex structures of city life in segmented form: facades, streets, cars, shop windows, passer-by. He is particularly interested in the optical quality of the surfaces and exteriors of the urban organism,” said a hand-out on the forthcoming exhibition. Mayor Tony Chammany will preside over the inaugural function. Senior artist and former chairman of Kerala Lalitkala Akademi C.N. Karunakaran, Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, vice-chairman of INTACH and honorary director of Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai; Hans-Gunter Loffler, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of Germany; Syed Ibrahim, Director, Goethe-Zentrum, Thiruvananthapuram; and Mathias Wagner, curator, New Maters Museum, Dresden State Art Collections; will be guests of honour.

The city is one of the two venues where the exhibition will be held as part of the “Germany and India 2011-2012: Infinite Opportunities” – the year-long programme to mark the 60 anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.While some artists and art students have welcomed the exhibition, some other artists came up in protest against it. Those against the exhibition complained that the Kochi Biennale Foundation was denying space to local artists to hold exhibition as the prestigious Durbar Hall, owned by the Kerala Lalitkala Akademi, is being booked for extensive period as part of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.(painting exhibition)

                                                          Prof. John Kurakar