Some of the exhibits at the show. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Sept. 4: Painters here have decided to change the face of art in the hills.

Breaking out of the shackles of traditional and picturesque paintings, a group of 21 artists have decided to make forays into contemporary art in keeping with the changes in the artistic world. All the painters are members of Himalayan Art Academy (HAA), an artists’ forum here.

“Art has to change and new themes have to be incorporated. We were stuck in the past till now but we have decided to change with the world,” said Ashok Moktan, the secretary of HAA.

The artists have put up a three-day exhibition of their paintings — MODART-07 — at Hayden Hall here. The display will come to an end tomorrow.

Though the hill artists were earlier finding good buyers for their works — largely depicting the Himalayas and inclined towards realism — the same cannot be said about contemporary art.

“In the last two days, we have sold only three paintings. But this was on an experimental basis and going by the reaction we are confident that we would want to carry on with such shows next year too. This was after all our first exhibition on contemporary works in Darjeeling,” said Moktan.

Many artists feel that along with them, the buyers and art connoisseurs too need to change their perspective. They believe this is a start in the right direction.

In fact, the artists were not very much off the mark if one goes by the comments in the visitors’ book.

Nayan Subba, an art connoisseur, has written: “It is really good to see some new aesthetic ideas. The term ‘modern art’ has many nuances and invites a large range of interpretations. A new attitude and a new hope.”

The first ever collection was also impressive as far as the medium was used. Apart from crayon, oil and water colour, artists used pastel, acrylic and ink in their work.

Moktan, however, believes that it is time to intertwine art, literature and music. “We all love music but the same interest is not shown towards art. This has to change.”