CIMA awards 12 young artists

Kolkata, Feb 1 (PTI) Recognising their talents, CIMA art gallery on Saturday awarded 12 young artists for their works.

Supriyo Manna received the highest CIMA (Centre of International Modern Art) Award for his work 'The Harvest of Trust', getting Rs 5 lakh as cash prize.

Chandan Bez Baruah was the first runners up and Sushma Yadav and Sougata Das shared the second runners up honour.

"This work is very close to me. I had worked on it for two years. I have sought to show that nothing should be discarded and rejected but given its due respect," Manna said.

Kalpana Vishwas and Arunangshu Roy got the Paresh Maity Award of Excellence by CIMA for their respective compositions.

Avishek Das and Nilmoni Raha got the Special Mention Award while Kamalendu Paul, Rimi Adak, Sanjay Kumar Yadav and Abhijit Debnath got the Merit Award.

"Thank you, CIMA for giving me the platform at a time when young artists working independently are faced with so much competition and difficulties without any support from lobbies," Paul said.

Birla Academy of Art and Culture was felicitated by CIMA as a distinguished art gallery of the country.

For their pioneering work in the craft sector in Gujarat's Kutch, Pankaj Shah and Minakumari Raste were given the Sarbani Kar Lifetime Achievement Award.

Eminent art curator and one of the key persons behind CIMA, Rakhi Sarkar said, "We are committed to introducing young artistic talents from different parts of the country and giving them a platform." The editor emeritus of ABP Group and media baron Aveek Sarkar was also present and gave away one of the awards. PTI SUS ACD