Utsav - Garden of Art - I (ART MUSEUM)

Utsav Rock Garden

After Vani Vilasa Sagara another 225 km drive over NH4 took us to our final destination, the Utsav Rock Garden. This is located on the Pune-Bangalore Highway, 37km after Haveri.  There are no signboards to take the exit from NH4, so after the town Shiggaon (which is exactly 6km from Utsav), you should slow down your speed.

Utsav Rock Garden is a Contemporary Sculptural Museum spread across 30acres of land, designed by internationally renowned artist Prof. T.B.Solabakkanavar and promoted by Dasanur group. The art village basically represents the art and folk culture of Karnataka state of India, adding to this it has fulfilled with contemporary and traditional art. 

The art village representing the art and folk culture of Karnataka

It has already achieved eight records, including the India Book of Records, RHR Indian Records and Limca Book of Records as a National record with a collection of over 1000 sculptures and monuments for depicting the rural and contemporary art, other records include Everest World Records, World Amazing Records, Assist World Records, Record Setter and Unique World Records

The certificates of World records put up at the entrance

I’ve heard about this art museum only through word-of-mouth, due to its location far from metros. I felt it quite interesting and I basically love art and architecture, so chose to drive this long.

There is a nominal entry fee which is for the maintenance and further development of the museum. The gardens basically have indoor and outdoor art museums.

The museums as of Aug 2015 were,

1.       Dr.Rajkumar Circle
2.       Artistic Banyan Tree,
3.       Sculptural Fountain,
4.       Modern Art Museum,
5.       Marriage Museum,
6.       Typical Art Village,
7.       Model Dairy,
8.       Folk Market,
9.       Folk Transportation and
10.   Glass Garden.

Once you enter through the gate, Dr.Rajkumar Circle welcomes you with the sculptures of legendary Kannada film icon Dr. Rajkumar. Here you can see various sculptures of Rajkumar depicting his famous movie characters. There is a baggage counter available here.

Sculpture of Dr. Rajkumar

Next you enter the indoor museums through the artistic Banyan Tree, which is the main attraction of Utsav garden. This is one of the best examples of the contemporary and traditional art. This is a Monumental tribute to three great artists from Karnataka - Dr M V Minajigi, Shri D V Halabhavi & Shri T P Akki, who were responsible for developing art culture in India even before our Independence. 

The artistic Banyan tree

Another view of the Banyan Tree

The left one appears to be a fiction

Watch out for the colorful ceiling glass paintings. The sculptural pillars are another interesting aspect to watch out for. These artistic pillars are uniquely designed illustrating the local traditional art and culture.

colorful Ceiling paintings

One of the artistic pillar representing the traditional art & culture

Some of the sculptures on the pillars

Each of these artistic pillars were uniquely designed

There is a Sculptural Fountain surrounding the indoor museums. It is not only a water fountain but there is a hidden message to mankind to protect the nature and allowing the other creatures to live. It reveals different postures of Infants, Toddler and Teenage children enjoying in water and nature. Along with them tree and birds are created to show the relationship between nature and human beings.

Sculptural Fountain

Sculpture of a baby sleeping at the fountain

Liked these designs at the fountain square

Through the artistic cave after banyan tree, you enter Modern Art Museum. This indoor museum consists of contemporary sculptures with artistic glass paintings on its walls and ceilings. This was another main attraction of the garden.

Modern Art Museum - entrance

cave painting at the entrance of the Modern Art Museum

Modern Art Museum

Artistic huge panels of glass paintings

Ceiling glass paintings

loved this nirvana gesture

With a concept of music on the left.

Modern Art Museum

Modern Art Museum

It was an out of the world experience for me at this moment, didn’t expect so much can be done in an art museum. There is an illustration of art everywhere, on the walls, over the ceiling, the columns, and almost every piece of available place.

art at every corner of your sight

The second half of the Art Garden was mostly of sculptures of Humans and Fauna.
Click here for Indian Marriage Museum, TheArt Village, Model Diary, Folk Markek, Folk Transportation, Glass Garden