Creativity with a cause: Meet Italian Artist Maurizio Boscheri for Wildlife and Nature
Art has been used for hundreds of years to illustrate spirituality, to raise awareness about environmental issues and evoke emotions. Art can engage people in a very deep and personal way, and stir them into action.
Accompanied by curator Mario Liberali, Italian artist Maurizio Boscheri painted a spectacular mural in Gariahat in association with artists from the Government College of Arts.
As an avid conservationist and wildlife lover, the mural depicts the national animal of India, the Royal Bengal Tiger, which is very special in this state, as well as the national bird, the peacock. The mural, in collaboration with 71 Palli Baishaki Darbojanin Durgotsab Samity, a women-only association active in the social field, wants to create awareness about the need to protect the ecosystem and the wildlife surrounding us.
Maurizio Boscheri believes that nature is the sole source of interest and curiosity for any artist. Colors actually provide food for the mind to play with them and create artistically.
Maurizio Boscheri expresses all of his enthusiasm for the city: ‘I came to India for the first time a lot of years ago, but this is my very first trip to Kolkata. Although I have not been able to visit many places, I am impressed by how lovely the city is. I have interacted with some young artists and art students, and I have to confess their level is on average rather high. I really hope I will be able to come back more often.”
The Consul General of Italy in Kolkata, Gianluca Rubagotti, highlights the importance of having an Italian painter in town. “I am very glad that Maurizio, together with his curator Mario, finally made it to come to Kolkata. OF all the different activities in which he has been involved, I am particularly grateful for the mural in Gariahat, which will remain as a symbol of the friendship between our people, as well as a reminder of the importance of taking care of the wildlife and the ecosystem’
Maurizio Boscheri has conducted a workshop with students of the Sister Nivedita University and has also generously donated one of his paintings to the oldest rotary club in the city to raise funds for a charity supporting victims of the tigers in the Sunderbans.