Amidst the bustle of pilgrims in the Pushkaram towns, a Vijayawada artist who produces art from waste materials has managed to attract much attention here.
P. Arun Prasad Udayar’s sculptures, made of scrap metal and materials otherwise regarded as trash, are surprisingly minimalist and breathtakingly detailed.
His exhibits are on display at an open-air art camp at Bommuru, a bit far from the river festival’s core area, but Pushkaram visitors’ curiousity has been stoked.
Mr. Udayar, a resident of Vijayawada, uses all sorts of metal bits and bobs and scrap metal sourced from automobile workships to make some arresting exhibits -- a bull, a horse, an elephant, a lion -- that look life-like.
The piece de resistance of his impromptu gallery is a piece depicting a man with a cup of tea.
It’s already become something of a talk of the town. Take a close look and you see just how many metal parts went into the making of it.
“Just look how natural both the camel and elephant are,” said Hussain, a passerby.
Mr. Udayar says he uses a wide variety of scrap metal such as discarded motor spareparts, metal tools and any other appropriate scrap metal. “”I use anything that I think suits a particular project,” he says.
It took nearly a year for me to create one animal as I have to collect scarp that suits the shape.”
Considerable work
Considering that each of his statues weighs 500-750 kg, it’s considerable work, The statues cost Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs.2 lakh depending upon the size.
Among Mr. Udayar’s scrap work art are a wax model of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and a statue of N.T. Rama Rao as Duryodhana.
These are by fellow artists Katuri Venkateswara Rao and Ravichandra respectively. A voluntary organisation called Manjeera Yuvajana Samkshema Sangham is organising the show.
It took nearly a year for me to create one animal as I have to collect scarp that suits the shape
P. Arun Prasad Udayar
Sculpture
