The mural art works that started off at the Greenlands flyover was a sight of amusement for passersby in the city on Saturday. The huge panels were seen kept beside the flyover walls, and one would be surprised to know that the entire stretch of about 5,000 sq ft across the Greenlands and Punjagutta flyovers is expected to be framed within 48 hours.

As the United Nation’s Biodiversity Meet is just a day away, sculptors and artistes are working on a war footing. The figures of cavemen, lion, birds and horses were all depicted in the ‘fibre glass panels’, which is to be fixed onto the walls. The murals will represent concepts like evolution of humans and nature, national integrity and village atmosphere.

Sridhar Patnala, who has been contracted the 5,000 sq ft stretch to finish the mural works, claims that the murals will be one of its kinds in the state different from usual murals carved out of cement, broken tiles or pebbles. He says that the murals have been prepared at his fibre cast workshop in Rajamundry.

Sridhar Patnala, a guest faculty of sculpture at the Yogi Vemana University in Kadapa, explains, “These murals have a life span of over 50 years. Once the POP moulds are ready, it is very easy to make the panels. These are plastic like material and spray-painted with colours that do not fade away.”

The design is inspired by terracotta seals and the concepts from the Indus Valley Civilisation, and it took only 40 days to prepare the entire panels, Patnala says.

The crafting work of the material is done at his workshop and the panels are brought to the flyovers and then nailed onto the walls. Further, the edges are cut to give a finishing touch before it is painted, Patnala adds.

Simplified designs, contour lines and multiple perspectives with a poetic touch is what I have tried to bring out, he observes.

source: http://www.ibnlive.in.com / Home> Andhra Pradesh / by Rahul V Pisharody,  ENS / The New Indian Express / October 01st. 2012