On a printing mission: Artists participate in the printmaking camp at Kismathpur

The road that leads to Kismathpur might be noisy and busy, but once you reach the studio of artist Chippa Sudhakar there, it’s a different world altogether.

Accompanied by a slight breeze and slow music from a cell phone, there is the subtle noise of the engraving tool that artists use to create prints at the printmaking camp by Meraki Art Gallery. At the studio, you will find senior artists like Laxma Goud, Suryaprakash and Chippa Sudhakar working alongside much younger artists.

Brothers and business partners, Awani and Aditya Vikram Saraogi, who run the art gallery are very pleased with the work. “People have a very wrong notion about this dying art form of printmaking. We are trying to remove that notion,” says Awani.

The week-long camp that started on June 3, brings together 10 artists, an eclectic mix of highly experienced and younger, promising artists. “When we looked at the printmaking scene in India not many understand the hard work that goes into making each print,” says Aditya.

“The art form is much more manual and tedious than just painting. You have to engrave the image on a metal sheet, get a print to see if it’s fine, then rework the engraved sheet to make it perfect and more. The other thing is that one can get only 10-15 prints per metal sheet; that makes it very special,” he adds.

The two brothers started working on this camp six months back. “Our main challenge was to get the artists together and all 10 of them weren’t free at the same time,” they explain.

Unlike most art camps where the works of artists are sold as individual pieces, here all the artists’ works are sold together. “For that, 10 works of each artist will be sold in a customised box and one has to buy all the works,” adds Awani. Each box will also contain a line drawing work of each artist, laser etched on each box.

As you walk through the camp, you’ll notice that there is no specific theme. You will find work on migration, landscapes, work on bulls, Gods and more. Artist Surya Prakash says, “I’m glad that this camp is being held we need more people to realise the value of printmaking. This is an artform that takes a lot of time and we need people to appreciate it.”