Thursday, December 03, 2009

Stick no bills!


A few weeks ago, BBMP came up with an idea to prevent public walls from being used as a place to stick all sorts of publicity material. They hired a bunch of painters, gave them enough of their wares and let them loose on the city. Suddenly wherever you look, you see garish paintings. Some are not-so-bad but most of them are grotesque. Aesthetic judgement aside, are the paintings having the desired effect? Apparently, yes!

This particular wall is very close to the Kempegowda Bus stand and is usually littered with Kannada movie posters. The lower portion of the wall is almost always covered by paan stains. However, now I've been watching this wall for more than two weeks and nobody seems to have touched it. I can't really tell why it works, but I'm glad it does. I'm even getting used to the tastelessness. I'd rather see kitsch on my wall than have a sweaty angry Emran Hashmi or Duniya Vijay stare out of it. Besides, there's some innocent charm about the whole scheme. I had a friend who used to be fascinated by examples of such color overload. She used to say "This is so INDIAN" with an affectionate familiarity. I kinda relate to that now

4 comments:

vineet vinod said...

hey i think I've seen the wall! Is it the one which we find on the way to your house from the bus stand?

Even I felt exactly the same but just imagine how the city would appear with such paintings everywhere?!!

I'm sure you can suggest few more ideas to sort this out. Think over!!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that it works and i think that the paintings are quite fantastic.Its a pity that these skillful artists get paid close to just Rs 300 a day.

Shreeni said...

Unique, but very innovative. Can we recognize the brain behind this and give him/her more opportunities to improve the city?

Anonymous said...

I think its an absolutely wonderful idea! I have loved those paintings and dint know up till now that the reason behind them is equally awesome. :)