The Department of Animation, Manipal University, Bangalore Campus held an art-expo from 24th May till 3rd June.The event, mutually colaboarated with “Kriya : Colors of Creativity” was a massive effort by the students and faculty of the university in exposing the hidden potential of the entire strength of the campus to the outside animation/art-related community.
Kriya was the brainchild of Prof. Unni Krishnan K a faculty of the university who had a vision of an art-expo of a global scale since the time the current 1st year’s batch enrolled in. Though due to many unforeseen circumstances , the idea had to be shelved for quite a long time.
Once the students had perfected their skills to the maximum possible level in the time span of eight months , Mr.Krishnan saw this golden opportunity to give the students a chance to showcase their talent to the global animation community and take the responsibility of coming up with works which each the industry standards. Reluctant but at the same time excited and curious, the 1st year batch began working on their individual portfolios with constant guidance from the faculties with the will to satisfy their hunger to prove themselves.
For three long months, the students worked on their respective portfolios spending day and night to achieve their rightful place in this country where engineering/medical and management stereotypes are considered ahead of any design/art involving subject. Among them, a team of students was chosen to organize and manage this event. The aptly named ‘Kriya Team’ along with Prof. Unnikrishnan and HODs Prof. Anil John and Prof. AC Balaji came to an ultimatum where the decision of creating a blog was taken which would describe the various cultures, ethics and aesthetics of the campus and host the students’ individual online portfolios open to the whole world for feedback, comments and criticism. At the same time, an initiative was taken to create a brochure which would describe the workflow of the entire event as well as glimpses into most of the students’ portfolios.
Just like any event of such grand level, there were many hurdles along the way. The best works were chosen from each student’s portfolio by a quality control team which were later photographed and painstakingly edited. According to the student’s account , these works were later uploaded on the Kriya blog – www.kriya-2010.blogspot.com. Meanwhile, work was going on for the brochure as well, where the Kriya team was working sleeplessly to print a flawless copy which was suave, professional and classy enough that it could be handed over to the industry experts as a peek into the yield and potential of the campus.
On 24th May 2010 renowned animator/film-maker Mr.Monotosh Mittra and Mr.Madhusudan,Senior VP,MUL inaugurated Kriya 2010. The brochure was officially launched and the blog was unveiled to the public for the first time during the event. The Chief Guests were escorted throughout the art gallery set in the college library and auditorium and were informed about the workflow of the event and its proposed continuation through the blog. A presentation displaying information about the entire plan was conducted.
The enormous collection of artwork consisted of concept art which showed the influence, inspiration and style of comic books, movies, video games etc. on the students. When it came to paintings, each student had his/her own distinct style though some could be compared to styles similar to inspirational artists like Van Gogh and Picasso. Life study was one of the most prominent subjects students had worked upon with models posing for reference. Live domesticated animals were brought into the campus and were studied and put down on the canvas. The intuitively attached, stressed more on experimental abstract art which could be interpreted in any way according to the viewer’s intellect and maturity. Color symbolism could be noticed in numerous cases and one could compare them to the same subject shown in internationally acclaimed works like Joan Gratz’s ‘Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase’ or Frank Miller’s '300' storyboards. Students had also put up story boards of industry level taking inspiration from the masters of traditional storyboarding and graphic novelists. A number of works were created manually and then enhanced digitally by taking advantage of the available technology, thus adding a whole new dimension to the end results. All this done in the past eight months was showcased in a very professional way , ready for criticism and to be marked by the animation community .
Another highlight of Kriya’s inauguration was the DVD launch of selected and filtered audio-video visual grammars - related animated short clips which were made by the students as part of their project. The DVD also contained the presentation, highlights and making of Kriya and an e-brochure as well.
Two days later,animation industry experts Pramod, Akash, Venky and Jeevan arrived at the campus to review the talent shown in the event. All of the four were highly impressed with the works displayed and enlightened the students with the criticism which everyone was waiting for.
The following day, Mr.Anand Sudarshan, CEO, MUL also came to view the event and he, just like the previous guests, was very happy with the talent spread around the university. The Kriya team was honoured by his gracious presence and he was gifted with the brochure and the DVD.
Animation industry comments-
Monotosh Mittra : “Awesome !! Futuristic!! Innovative!!”
Pramod: “Excellent combination of teachers & the taught. Please continue the same.”
Akash : “Keep up the good work.”
Venky : “I’m very impressed. I feel like going back and start sketching and painting. Apply
discipline and hard work in creativity. There’s no looking back.”
Jeevan : “I’m very impressed. One of the best works I’ve seen so far .In 6 months of time it’s really
amazing work. Please carry on with same pace. You guys are already industry-ready.
Continue to work hard.”
Arun S M : “I am jealous not being a teacher to this batch of students and hopefully next semester I
will get to work with them.”
Anand Sudarshan Sir : “I’m delighted to see the phenomenal amount of creative works-truly
outstanding minds in action .Please keep it up!”
Gaurav Kapoor (Autodesk-Vinsys) : " Very creative and inspirational "
Kriya hasn’t ended. Following the success of the debut exhibition, three more have been planned in succession which would be held once the next academic year starts.
A synopsis of Kriya’s next steps into showcasing the creative potential of the students of the college -
> A portrayal of the best works of all subjects and in different mediums of our students from the whole campus (students irrespective of batch).It will include professional show reels, portfolios, and best performances of the students of the campus.
> A gallery of photographic perceptions captured by the lenses of the die-hard photographers which would also showcase art in unconventional mediums through theatrical expressions and articulations.
>A display of works mostly fine arts, concept sketches, story boards done by students specializing in creative arts, conceptual visualization and storyboarding.
It is very clear from the comments and the feedback received from the invited guests that Kriya 2010 was a phenomenal success. The campus has officially made a mark on the animation industry and the amount of talent shown proves that the future is very bright for the animation/art community.
KRIYA -An independent initiative of Students & Professionals [since 2007], would like to thank the Manipal management for their space and ground support. Manipal University had been a great supporter for KRIYA's growth. Thanks to the Industry members whose comments, support and encouragement had made this series of effort a great success, KRIYA also extends its wholehearted thanks to all visitors and well wishers and members of KRIYA for participation and coordination. KRIYA- Members.
