The Uttara Contemporary Art gallery which was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat last month lacks basic facilities for functioning properly. The art gallery which can be said as one of its kind in Uttarakhand is in such a state that due to space constraints it cannot exhibit even 20 paintings at a time.
According to the staff of the gallery, an exhibition in the gallery was to be held for three weeks but because of the lack in the space, the time period of the exhibition has been extended.
The paintings that are selected for the exhibition will be displayed in four parts one after the other. Paintings by 11 artists have been selected for the second exhibition with works by seven artists for the third exhibition. The second exhibition will be displayed on the 7th of August. “When we asked for applications from the artists, some students also applied for it but due to the lack of space we were not able to display the paintings even though some were good. This is why the exhibition was divided into four phases,” said a gallery official.
In addition to the space constraints, lack of proper staff is another problem which visitors are facing as there is no guide in the gallery to explain the paintings displayed. Also, there is no accountant because of which the sale of the paintings has not been processed yet. “People ask the price of the painting but we don’t have the system currently present in the gallery. We look forward to the system to be installed very soon so that it can help the artist financially,” the gallery official added.
Another problem which the gallery is facing is lack of awareness. People are less aware of the art and paintings because of which the place has not witnessed many visitors. “Most of the visitors are the people who are family members of the artists. This is the starting phase of the centre and we will try to promote the gallery so that more people know about it,” he said.
Talking to The Pioneer, director of the culture department Bina Bhatt said, “This was the first phase of the art gallery, a committee will be formed very soon and then aspects of its functioning will be decided accordingly.”