Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 1,025 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.

Chennai recently hosted the third edition of the art festival 'Contemporary Now', with collaboration from art galleries of Kolkata, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, and Mumbai as well. A diverse range of artworks was exhibited in 10 venues across the city, as shown in this photo essay.

The artist lineup included Ashwini Bhat, Prajakta Potnis, Khageswar Rout, Amitesh Shrivastava, Sandeep Mukherjee, Saju Kunhan, Pratap Morey, Benitha Perciyal, Natasha Preenja, and many others.

“Now is a good time to be in art. Aspiring artists as well as audiences today are much more connected to art, thanks to social media,” mixed-media artist Benitha Perciyal tells YourStory.

Earlier, art catalogues and visits to a few galleries were the only available options. “You had to simply wait to get access and exposure, or travel to other cities, which was quite expensive,” she recalls.

“Today, online access is immediate and global. But at the same time, too much online exposure can be confusing or intimidating,” she cautions.

Digital platforms and AI make things much easier and faster now for art. “But it also takes away from the satisfaction of finding or creating something after a lot of effort,” Perciyal says.

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