Delhi Daredevils bats for art

Conceived by Creatigies Communications, the campaign showcases a collection of 15 specially painted bats that, among other places, will be displayed at the venues where the team will play.

GMR-owned IPL team Delhi Daredevils has partnered NGO Arts4All to launch its promotional campaign titled 'Batting for Art'. Conceived by Creatigies Communications, the campaign showcases a collection of 15 specially painted bats that will be displayed at the venues where the team will play, at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport and at public venues where they are expected to draw maximum viewers.

Arts4All (A4A) is a not-for-profit foundation that aims to showcase a diverse spectrum of visual arts. With its head office in New Delhi, A4A is the initiative of Archana B Sapra and Puja Bahri, the founder trustees. A4A's primary focus is to help struggling artists, both folk and contemporary, by helping improve the quality of their work and making it accessible to a wider audience and also marketing it for their economic sustainability.

'Batting for Art' connects sport and art to create a special fund-raising idea for A4A. The painted bats will also be showcased at an exhibition cum sale celebration dinner, to be organised on May 9 by GMR Sports and the fund raised will be used for A4A's residency programme and its other initiatives. The project also aims to raise awareness about Indian contemporary art and carry it to a wider cross section of people as a commercial enterprise.

The participating artists were Binoy Varghese, Chintan Upadhayay, Dileep Sharma, Farhad Husain, Jayasri Burman, Kanchan Chander, Khem Vaishnav, Neeraj Goswami, Paresh Maity, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Satish Gupta, Seema Kohli, Sidharth, Thota Vaikuntam and Yusuf Arakkal.

Inspired by Indian mythology, traditions and lifestyles, the paintings on the bats display the artists' interpretation of anecdotes from Krishna Leela, Ramayana, lifestyles, nature, ethnic iconography and Indian figurative motifs to bring out the synergy between the culture of cricket and the Indian way of life.

Speaking to afaqs! about the idea behind the campaign, Navroze D Dhondy, managing director, Creatigies Communications, says that the idea of marrying art and cricket was something that had been brewing for a long time at Creatigies. "We always believed that the two could merge to create some amazing artistic expressions that symbolise the spirit and energy of the game. Along the way raising funds for an excellent cause like A4A made us even more delighted. The response from both the Delhi Daredevils and A4A encouraged us to take this to the next level, and the end result was far more exciting than any of us expected."

In an official communiqué, Hemant Dua, CMO, Delhi Daredevils, states, "Batting for Art was an excellent idea mooted by Creatigies, and we were more than happy to support A4A to create this unique ensemble of creativity from around the country, which celebrates the indomitable spirit of the Delhi Daredevils."

The bats were unveiled by the artists, and Daredevil team members such as Eric Simmons, T Sekar, Ashish Nehra, Andre Russel and Naman Ojha.