Expo of paintings of city's pride from tomorrow

MANGALORE: Indo-Canadian artist Kokila (née Suthan Karkera), the pride of Mangalore whose fame has transcended borders across Canada, Italy and the Middle East, will hold a painting exhibition, Kokila - Rediscovering India, at Prasad Art Gallery in the city from January 24-27.
"Kokila is an Indo-Canadian artist born and brought up in Mangalore with mother Vimala Suvarna, an avid painter.One of her early art mentors is artist B G Mohammed of BGM Art School," explain veteran artist Ganesh Somayaji.
In recent years, she took art classes at George Brown College, Toronto, under well-known Canadian artist Stefan Galvanek.
A member of Scarborough Arts Council, Kokila draws her from multicultural experiences of living in and travelling to different places.
"The journalist-turned-artist is versatile and enjoys working with oils, watercolours, acrylic, charcoal, pencils, crayons using brushes, knives, pieces of wood and paper," says Somayaji, adding that her paintings, sketches, murals adorn homes and institutions in Italy, North America, and the Middle East, besides India.
Her summer solo shows - 'Kokila: An evening of colour and culture' held in Toronto in August last year and 'Kokila: Art and Aperitivo' in Rome in October 2012 received rave reviews ad many of her works were sold out immediately, says Somayaji.
Hima Urmila Shetty, Dr M V Shetty Memorial Trust member, will be the guest at the inaugural of the art exhibition on January 24 at 5pm. The exhibition will be open from 9.30am-7.30pm from January 25-27.