Mesmerising Paintings at Puri Fest

Puri: It is time for the 17th Beach Festival. Thirty-five young painters, some from outside the state, have become the connoisseurs of all who visit the festival. The walls of the exhibition hall are full of paintings of all traditional, contemporary, and abstract.

While vivacious angel Maneka mesmerizes saint Biswamitra in one traditional painting, in another Goddess Saraswati with her traditional veena draws your eyes in simple adoration. Several paintings depict the trajectory of a woman`s life which often is anything but a bed of roses.

Undoubtedly the 35 artists have become the focus of the ongoing international festival in the temple town. Says the budding artist, Arati Pattanaik, "The festival and the organizers provided us a large platform to showcase our talent. The response of the crowd here is marvelous".

The painting exhibition organized by the Subhadra Art Gallery has participants from Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Dehradun, Baroda, Karnataka, Mangalore, and Tripura.

The exhibition was inaugurated by the tourism minister Prafulla Samal who stressed that the temple town with its rich cultural heritage should have at least one quality art gallery to showcase local art and promote young and upcoming artists.