Artists Anand Gadapa and Shivarama Charya have known each other for 20 years, but it was only now that the friends managed to collaborate for an art show, — Trending Tweets.
“The show has nothing to do with tweets, but we were inspired by how they trend. So we took the name and worked on the trends in art and relationship as the theme,” says Gadapa. Trending Tweets, which has 58 art pieces, 40 paintings and 18 sculptures on display, is very special to the duo. Gadapa says, “We’ve been trying to come together with a show for years, but it never happened. We wanted to do a cross-medium show and now, it has finally taken shape.”
Gadapa is a painter, while Charya is a sculptor. The two were coincidentally working on the same topic — relationships — and then realised that it was time they worked together. While this idea was floated two years back, the two artists could find time to work on it just six months ago.
Gadapa’s paintings have puppets and caricatures which portray relationships between couples. “Each individual comes with their complexities and despite being very different, they put those aside and work on a relationship. I have shown the negotiations of a relationship in a satirical form,” explains Gadapa, who says that he was inspired from his own marriage (a Brahmin, he married a Christian and how they make their marriage work despite their differences.)
Charya, on the other hand, used sculptures to depict the drama in a relationship and the role nature plays in their lives. “I noticed several relationships since my childhood and none have been the same. Each one is special and their connection with nature is very unique,” says Charya. The interesting part is that all the sculptures are made using terracotta and sheet metal embossing work, which are both traditional and challenging.
The works here are affordable. “This is a small format show. Which means the works are smaller and affordable and will encourage new buyers too,” says Gadapa. True to the format, the smallest painting on display is 3x5 inches, while the smallest sculpture is 9x9 inches. “The challenge is in creating small works, since they require more detailing,” adds Charya.
Since the two have been friends for so long, was working together easy? Gadapa laughs, “Yes, it was. We have been open to suggestions from each other. We wanted to show how artists from different medium can come together and collaborate and we achieved that.”
