Bengaluru Will Be Painted With Water Colour

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Grand Mercure will be presenting a curated selection of water color works by artist K Hiremath and the artist’s live show. Hiremath is ranked amongst the top 50 watercolor artists in the World. He is a recipient of several awards and accolades nationally and internationally. This is a solo exhibition showcasing a curated selection of artist’s paintings documenting his travels to 3 heritage sites in India and Nepal (Hampi, Banaras, and Nepal). One of the locations in the archaeological and heritage site of Hampi, Karnataka, which incidentally is also the theme of the décor at Grand Mercure hotel. The artworks are more than mere reflections of the sites, capturing the very essence of the place and its people. The paintings invoke a strong sense of nostalgia through which you can almost smell the smells in the streets and feel the sunlight on your arms.

The exhibition is curated by Art & Beyond, an enterprise that brings artworks of extremely talented emerging artists to art patrons.

Born in a small village in North Karnataka, Kudalayya Hiremath is ranked as one of the top 50 watercolor artists in the world. An Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya, Pune alumnus, Hiremath, has chosen watercolor as his medium of expression. Portraits, landscapes, and suggestive abstracts are his forte. He travels a lot to pick his subjects and draw inspiration for his paintings. For Hiremath, painting is an immersive experience, and he loves to paint at the heritage sites – a reason why his works go beyond capturing the mere optic view of the place and, in fact, reflects its essence – one can hear the sounds, smell the smells and feel the air of the location in his artworks. His paintings are uncluttered, which reflects clarity of thought and composition. The artist also dedicates a substantial amount of his time to guide and nature younger painters. He has participated in several camps, group and solo shows across India.

His vibrant strokes have earned him several national and international awards. The impressive list of awards and achievements are as follows:

Award for Water Colour Painting of Pune Festival 2009.
Best Watercolour Award in The Bombay Art Society annual competition, 2013.
Qualified for 2013, First 50 in International Watercolour Society Catalogue.
Qualified for the 2014 International Watercolor Society Catalogue, Turkey
Qualified for the 2015 International Watercolor Society Exhibition, Albania
Top twenty Award for watercolor painting at 1^st International Watercolor Society India Biennale 2015, Delhi. Hiremath’s was the only painting from India among the top 20 paintings selected from 38 participating countries.
Painting “BANARAS GHAT” is exhibited and selected in the top 30 artists in TWWCE 2016, Taiwan.
First Prize for All India Live Portrait Competition 2017, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
PLAIN AIR Award for Water Colour Painting in Global Association of Watercolor Artist (GAWA) 2019.
Second Prize for Live Portrait competition in PORTRAIT ARTIST GROUP Mumbai, 2019.
GOLD Prize in INDIA LOCKDOWN, National Online Watercolour Competition 2020, IWS India.
An Official Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour contest winner, 2020.
SNEHIL International Excellence Award 2020, Dehradun.