ANPIC’s OTIA launch sees Parliamentarians Pinaki Mishra, Shabana Azmi urge for patronage for Indian art to flourish!

With Odisha to soon be the venue for India’s first private sector Triennial, Odisha Triennial of International Art (OTIA) will see India’s national and the international art scene converge in three major cities of Odisha, namely Bhubaneshwar, Puri and Konark.
 OTIA, the brainchild of Artists Network for Promoting Indian Culture (ANPIC) headed by its Managing Trustee, Mr. Sashanka Mohapatra, was formally launched in Bhubaneswar and New Delhi in May and June of this year.

The OTIA Mumbai Declaration at NGMA, Mumbai was graced by MP Pinaki Mishra, five times National Award-winning eminent actress and MP Shabana Azmi, actors Rohit Roy and Kavitta Verma, designer Nikita Mohanty, veteran artists Lalita Lajmi, Prabhakar Kolte, Nayanaa Kanodia, Sashanka Mohapatra, artists Brinda Miller, Padmanabh Bendre, Suhas Bahulkar, Dadiba Pundole, Gautam Patole, Sanjukta Barik, Akhilesh Jaiswal, Maushmi Ganguly, Shabari Smita Guha Nath, Mallikarjun Katke, Kuldeep Karegaonkar, Vipta Kapadia, Vishwa Sahni, Sonu Gupta among others. India’s topmost curator and art historian, JohnyML, OTIA’s Curatorial Director, Mumbai based artist and Educationist, Rajendra Patil ‘PaRa’ as Mentor-Director of OTIA and Kshitish Das Program Coordinator were also present.

OTIA will be a 40 day-long mega art event with over 100 Indian artists of the likes of Jatin Das, Sudhir Patwardhan, Prabhakar Kolte, K.S.Radhakrishnan, Ravinder Reddy, Jogen Chowdhury, Laxman Gowd among others.

MP Pinaki Mishra said, “OTIA is a noble venture. It flew out of an idea of very bright and talented youngsters from Raghurajpur that has extraordinary talent per square inch. Every home is home to art and artisans. I would like to invite you back this winter and spend a couple of days to understand how much talent is prevalent and nurtured and is left undiscovered. That is the real motive of OTIA and the Triennial, and anything we can do to make it a success.  It is a challenging and daunting task but young people bring strong energies and exceptionally gifted mentors. Well begun is half done and I am privileged to part of it.”

Added  Shabana Azmi, “My father had inculcated art in me since I was a child. I have been watching plays, going to galleries, since my childhood. It has created a climate of sensitivity sublimely in me. In today’s times, where the entire world is driven by the market, we have to make a special attempt to say that we nurture art that doesn’t apply to market but says something much more important.

“We need to recognise that art has flourished over the years as it has had patronage. Mr Pinaki Mishra is here and I think it is very important that if in parliament we can get our parliamentarians to agree what an important part art has in shaping the personality of individuals, in creating the respect for diversity for inclusion for multilingual, multicultural society. It is also important that organisations and government should come together to create a climate in which change can possibly occur. I would congratulate it. I understand how it is important to be mentored by those in the profession and congratulations to all of you.”

Sashanka Mohapatra, the Founder Director of OTIA expressed that OTIA is an international platform where the international artists could exhibit along with the national artists of India and the artists from the Odisha state in particular, while JohnyML underlined that while most of the international events are generally high-browistic, this his global Triennial will see local aesthetics stand shoulder to shoulder with the international art, integrating art, music, dance, theatre, film, craft and literature, being the first of its kind ever.