Odisha CM releases India’s first coffee table book on sand art

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 8:

A first of its kind coffee table book on Sand Art and Sand Sculpture titled ‘Imaginations in sand’ published by internatinally acclaimed sand sculptor Sudarsan Patnaik was released here today by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

‘Imaginations in sand’ is a rare composition of photographs and scribbles showcasing various expressions and experiments in the ancient form of sand art by Pattnaik over the years.
Sudarsan Sand Art bookIt may be noted here that Sudarsanwas conferred with the Padma Shri in 2014 for his immense contribution to popularization of the ancient form of Sand Art across the globe.

He has also participated in over 50 international Sand Art competitions across the world and won several awards. Recently, he won the People’s Choice Award at the sand sculpting  World cup 2014 at Atlantic City in USA.

The innumerable superb pieces of sand art and sculptures by Sudarsan had the world saluting and acknowledging the beauty of sand art and had brought laurels for the state and the country.

Among other dignitaries, Tourism & Culture minister  Ashok Chandra Panda, commissioner-cum-Secretary, Tourism & Culture Arabinda Kumar Padhee and several eminent personalities were present on the occasion.

Sudarsan sand art bookSpeaking on this occasion Sudarsan Pattnaik said; “With the increasing popularity of sand art and sculpture across the world, I had decided to make the book so as to enable sand art lovers as well as people from all walks of life to readily have the delight of glancing through popular sand sculptures that were made by me in several countries across the world.”

“When I initially thought about bringing out the book, I had met the hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik, who himself is an internationally known author and a keen art lover, for his suggestions and guidance. He not only guided me on how to go about on the book, but also supported me greatly in making this book happen. I am very happy that today he personally launched the book. I am delighted and thankful to him for his kindness.”

Sudarsan said  he would donate 50% of the proceeds of the entire sale of the book on the inaugural day to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for flood victims.

THE BOOK

The unique coffee table book ‘Imaginations in sand’ has 11 broad categories comprising photographs and scribbles on master pieces of Sand art and sculpture by Shri Sudarsan Pattnaik on several contemporary themes and issues over the years.

The categories are ‘Where Gold is Green & Blue’, ‘Sand for Social Causes’, ‘A World without Borders’, ‘Saluting Talent’, ‘Emblazoned in the sands of times’, ‘Contours of Power’, ‘Sporting with Sand’, ‘A tribute to ‘Nirbhaya’’, ‘An artistic journey beyond sand’, ‘The Art of Narration’ and ‘Celebrating life’.

All these broad categories feature the pictures and scribbles of some of the finest art marvels of the great artists made in sand in several countries across the world. The book features elegant sand sculptures covering a wide array of prominent contemporary issues, personalities and topics ranging from global warming to making the largest Santa Claus on sand to paying tributes to talents like Michel Jackson, Ustad Bismillah Khan and congratulating sports achievers like master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan as well as heads of states like President Obama and President Pranab Mukherjee.

The category ‘Where Gold is Green and Blue’ comprises photographs of a variety of sand sculptures on Global Warming; Save Power, Save Earth; Carbon Footprints; Save the Blue; Conserve Water, Save the Blue and more.

Sudarsan Sand Art BookThe ‘Sand for Social Causes’ segment featured photographs of Sudarsan’s sand sculptures aimed at spreading awareness on a host of social issues like ‘Stop Terrorism’, ‘Polio-free world, ‘AIDS control’, ‘Turtle conservation’, ‘Don’t Smoke, Save Life’, ‘Save power, Save the planet’, ‘Swine Flu Alert’, ‘Help the Tsunami and Cyclone victims’, ‘Change Lifestyle, Curb cancer’ etc. ‘

The ‘A World without Borders’ section featured some award winning photographs of the artist including ‘Mummies: a tribute to ancient Egyptian Craft’ at Sand Sculpture Festival in Belgium, ‘Global warming’ which won Pattnaik the firsprize at the USF World Championship 2008 in Berlin. Some of the other notable entries in this section are ‘We dream of world without war’, ‘Immortal Love of Emperor Shahjahan and Queen Mumtaz’ showcased in countries like Turkey, Japan, Canada and Spain etc.

Another section, ‘Saluting Talent’, comprises photographs of Sudarsan’s sand sculptures where the artist has paid tribute to great artists who have enriched human civilization like, ‘Homage to Shehnai Maestro Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’, ‘Tribute to painter M F Hussain’ etc.

The category ‘Emblazoned in the sands of times’ features photographs of Sudarshan’s sand sculpture paying homage to great souls who have given up their lives to make the world a better place to live in like, ‘A Tribute to Pope John Paul II’, ‘A Tribute to Mother Teresa’, ‘Tribute to the lives lost in 9/11, the attack on WTC’, ‘Tribute to lives lost in 22/11, Serial Blast in Mumbai’, ‘Tribute to Biju Patnaik on his 94 th Birth Anniversary’ etc.

‘Contours of Power’ contains photographs of a variety of sand sculpture on significant political issues and happenings of the present day including ‘Congratulating President Barrack Obama when he received Noble prize for Peace in 2009’, ‘Congratulating President Pranab Mukherjee on becoming 13th President of India’, ‘Dance of Democracy: An Ad campaign launched during General Election 2009’.

In ‘Sporting with Sand’, the greatest quality of a sportsman i.e. never-say-die attitude has been portrayed by Sudarsan through his master pieces of sand sculptures which include, ‘Hockey World Cup’, ‘Beijing Olympics’, ‘FIFA World Cup’, ‘Thanking Sachin for dedicating one of his centuries to the cause of saving tigers’ etc.

The category ‘A Tribute to Nirbhaya’ comprises of photographs of Sudarsan’s sand sculpture ‘Saluting Nirbhaya for the superhuman courage she displayed on that reprehensible night, ‘Demanding Respect for all women of India’ etc. ‘An artistic journey beyond sand’ featured photographs of newer domains, where Sudarsan has been equally adept at creating sculptures in snow.

‘The Art of the Narration’ category comprises photographs where Sudarsan has adapted his sculptures to sand animation and has used the mode to narrate stories.

The last category ‘Celebrating life’ comprises photographs of Sudarsan’s sand art showcasing life in all its variety and richness like, ‘Giving shape to Shah Jahan’s unfulfilled dream of creating a black Taj Mahal’, ‘Invoking the Spirit of wanderlust on World Tourism Day’, ‘Revisiting the Konark of 1868 in 2005 on the Chandrabhaga Beach’, ‘Wishing faster relief to the King of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan’, ‘Five hundred Santa’ spreading the message to save the world from global warming’ etc.

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