At Kolkata's Divya Kala Mela, artists found buyers for work developed through different paths. Ei Samay's July 21, 2026 feature reported Ritwik Gupta had sold two of five paintings brought to the fair, while three by Soham Das had sold.
Ritwik's mother, Barnali Gupta, said he watched painting tutorials during pandemic school closures. She then found a specialist educator for online lessons. His landscapes reflect his childhood around tea gardens in northern Bengal and Assam.
Soham's mother recalled him pouring colour onto paper and drawing with his fingers. The family initially did not recognise his work as abstract art. Ei Samay described both as autistic and reported them meeting buyers.
The fair brought these individual practices into a larger marketplace. The Social Justice Ministry's July 14 opening account recorded around 40 stalls, predominantly involving West Bengal artisans, and identified the Kolkata edition as a joint central and state government effort. It was the 31st edition of an initiative begun in December 2022.
The ministry dates the inauguration to July 14, corroborated by NIC's event listing; Ei Samay gives a conflicting July 17 start. The reported purchases illustrate a specific market opportunity: individual artworks finding buyers, rather than a general claim that exhibition alone creates income.
