BBMP is on a beautification drive, painting the walls in the city in a hue of colours. Since August 15th 2009, about seven lakh square feet of wall along main roads and bridges, mostly in the west zone of the city have been turned into canvases for the BBMP’s Karnataka Vaibhava wall painting project.

Scenes from mythology, paintings of the temples at Hampi, Belur and Halebid, the Mysore Palace, historical figures of Karnataka, jungle creatures, and even a few socially conscious paintings of polio vaccinations and the dangers of alcohol related abuse now adorn the public walls of the city, instead of gutka stains and torn film bills.

65 banner artists have gained employment as a result of the project.Pic: Karunya Keshav.

“The purpose of this project is to avoid posters, wall writings, to bring about beautification, and to show the heritage and bring back the glory of Karnataka,” says Dr S S Khandre, Public Relations Officer (PRO), BBMP. Tia Raina is an advertising professional who is impressed by this effort. She says, “Doing it in this way gives Bangalore something to show off to its visitors.”

Chandranath Acharya, a well known artist and former magazine illustrator for Deccan Herald group, however, says, “Thousands of paintings trying to catch your eye – is just chaos”.

G Asvathanarayan, Chief Executive of Chinmaya Mission Hospital and head of the Bangalore chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), set up to protect and conserve India’s natural and cultural heritage, is unconvinced about how effective the BBMP’s plans would be to raise awareness about the state’s heritage. “To draw people’s attention, it is okay,” he says. “But it is too distracting. (The paintings) would be more effective where people have time to stand, look, ponder, and reflect about the heritage, for example at Cubbon Park or Lal Bagh.”

U V Umesh, art consultant, who has written about the technique followed by BBMP artists on his blog and website on Contemporary Indian Art, agrees, “The paintings are a distraction while driving.” He feels this could lead to accidents especially along the main roads, such as the one leading to the Airport. But he also feels it is a good initiative otherwise, “Everything is about photography and digital images today. This is a different type of art. People, especially children, do not get a chance to see things of beauty, so all this will be converted to good ideas.”

Planning behind the project?

The main criticism levelled against the BBMP, however, is the lack of planning process or detailed consultation with experts regarding the project. Acharya is critical of the whole approach to public art, based on a government’s tender system. He recounts a better example of how 50 KSRTC and BMTC buses were painted by artists including S G Vasudev, Yusuf Arakkal and Acharya himself, for an initiative of the then Transport Commissioner I M Vittala Murthy.

Special enamel and water proof paints have been used. Pic: Karunya Keshav.

With Bangalore Urban Arts Commission having shut down in 2002, the BBMP admits that there is no governmental organisation to regulate or draw up plans for the city’s art in public spaces. B T Ramesh, Chief Engineer (West Zone) BBMP says, “The project was the brainchild of BBMP Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena. It is being (executed) by the BBMP engineers.”

The BBMP PRO explains that once the idea was formulated, the BBMP put forward an “Expression of Interest” notice in the papers. They contacted art schools in the city, including Chitrakala Parishath and Ken School of Art for the project. Students of Ken School of Art in Seshadripuram offered to create street art based on the BBMP guidelines. “We worked overnight on August 14th on a wall of a railway bridge in Majestic area and completed it,” says Sameer Rao, a student of the school, who was involved in the project with 10 others from college. He says the students had creative plans for the paintings, and offered to do the paintings for about Rs 55 per sq ft, but their offer was rejected by the authorities.

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