Art&Found is an online platform dedicated to making art in India more accessible. We rarely talk about art as a valuable investment and even though appreciation comes easily to us, quite a lot of us shirk away from supporting it realistically. Art&Found fosters a sense of community and nurtures its platform for artists and art aficionadoes to sell and buy their art in various ranges — from affordable to high-end mediums; from canvas wraps to framed designs. Their previous collections included curations titled, ‘Women Will Save The Planet’, ‘Superheroes’ and ‘Design Fights COVID’. On how their brilliant campaign Artwork for Heartwork came together, CEO of Art&Found, Aditya Mehta states, “Art is one of the most beautiful forms of expression. It gives one the power to creatively and passionately express thoughts and emotions. By leveraging the power of this medium, we conceptualized the idea of ‘Artwork for Heartwork’ to build a bridge from creative visualization to encourage action for a cause. In partnership with LAY’S and Smile Foundation, ‘Artwork for Heartwork’ brought together India’s leading artists and celebrities to fundraise for procuring hygiene kits for the numerous unsung heroes like farmers, truck drivers, shopkeepers and many more such unsung heroes who have been working tirelessly during these challenging times.”
Mehta also retells the origins of the #Heartwork campaign, “This initiative is part of the on-going #Heartwork campaign which expresses gratitude and appreciates all the unsung heroes — such as farmers, truck drivers, retailers, and many more such heroes — who work relentlessly even in these challenging times and bring joy to millions across the country. The #Heartwork journey was started with music with leading singers sharing an emotional and melodious tribute for the cause and then it transitioned into tapping creative visual art formats for this heartwarming campaign.”
To honour and aid them, the Artwork for Heartwork campaign aims to donate all proceeds from all purchased artwork in the collection towards buying hygiene kits for these unsung heroes and their families. Mehta also comments on their intent-based curatorial process, “We looked for the top artists and designers we could work with. The intent was to get the best in craft and also to leverage each artist’s unique reach to their audience via social media or offline. These are graphic artists, illustrators, typographers, original artists doing handmade and mix-media art, fashion designers. ‘Artwork for Heartwork’ is an initiative that celebrates gratitude, reminding us to not take for granted those who work behind the scenes.”
At the online launch of the campaign through Zoom, on display, we had a viewing of art pieces and mixed media from artists such as Shubhika Sharma, Shweta Malhotra, Kunel Gaur, Hansika Sharma, Viraj Mithani to Ayushman Mitra. Collectively, their various unique forms of artwork flourished with a sense of vitality for the craft.
Film and media artists such as Sonu Sood, Manushi Chillar, Arshad Warsi, Chitrangada Singh, Ishita Dutta and Karan Tacker have also contributed their own works of art for this incredibly important cause. Lastly, Mehta articulates the immense passion behind the initiative, “The team at Art&Found is incredibly grateful to bring to life this project which has not only let artists create something meaningful but also be part of a great cause one would be proud to be associated with, and that which will be remembered for a long time.”
You can buy various pieces of art from the Artwork for Heartwork campaign here.
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