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Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YS, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 575 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.

Tucked away in a lane off MG Road at Trinity Circle, one of the cultural treasures of Bengaluru, is the Indian Cartoon Gallery (ICG). See our earlier photo essays on the gallery’s exhibitions from 2015 onwards here.

VG Narendra, Managing Trustee of the Indian Institute of Cartoonists (IIC), is also the gallery’s manager and curator. He is a cartoonist himself, and trained under Shankar Pillai, who was the Founder of Shankar’s Weekly and is generally regarded as the father of political cartooning in India.

The gallery kicked off the year’s exhibition calendar with the Cartoon Festival 2022. It featured over 40 large caricatures drawn by 21 cartoonists in Karnataka.

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“The exhibition showcases the outstanding works of established as well as emerging cartoonists,” explains VG Narendra, in a chat with YS. Each artist was requested to submit two of their best caricatures, and their prints were displayed.

“Caricatures represent a particularly difficult and creative type of cartoons. The focus is mainly on the face, and not the whole body,” Narendra describes.

“There is a distortion of the face, but in a manner that still makes it recognisable. The essence of the personality is captured,” he says.

“On top of that, it also evokes humour and brings a smile to the face of the viewer,” Narendra adds. It is possible to draw caricatures of animals and birds as well.

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VG Narendra

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“This August, we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Indian Cartoon Gallery,” he proudly adds. A number of special events are planned to celebrate the occasion in a big way.

The next exhibition at the gallery is titled From Bill to Biden: America in Cartoons, by New York-based cartoonist Shreyas Navare. He is also Co-founder and CEO of Ladderworks Publishing, and was earlier editorial cartoonist for the Hindustan Times.

Now, what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and find new avenues to explore your creative core?

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Felicitation: Lifetime achievement awards to four cartoonists

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