Four-day Imaginations in Sand concludes

BHUBANESWAR: The four-day ‘Imaginations in Sand’ exhibition concluded on Tuesday. The unique exhibition had brought together sand sculptures made by internationally-acclaimed sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik during major events across the world. One of his famous works on the Puri beach in 2008 titled ‘Rath Yatra’, which he presented in the form of an sand installation during the exhibition, was sold for `5 lakh on the concluding day. The event was attended by a host of cine stars, sports stars and dignitaries.  Inaugurated by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on April 14, the exhibition has over 100 sand art photographs printed on the canvas and sand and acrylic were used on some of the canvasses to give the sand art a real feel.The exhibition categorised Sudarshan’s works under nine main themes, such as ‘Where gold is green and blue’, ‘Sand for social causes’, ‘A World beyond borders’, ‘Saluting the talented souls’, ‘Power of Art, ‘Sporting with sand’, ‘Expressions beyond sand’, ‘The Art of narration’ and ‘Celebration called life’.  A special collection of postcards, comprising 12 rare sand art photographs of Sudarshan, were released on the inaugural day by the Chief Minister.  “This exhibition was kind of a tribute from me to the sand that has given me so much in life. Sand has always been my passion and inspiration in life. There had been persistent requests from admirers for this type of exhibition,” said Sudarshan, adding that the response to Imaginations in Sand was ‘brilliant’.   The artist has represented India in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships and won many awards including the World Championship in 2008.