“लव Mumbai” unveiled as a permanent installation in Bandra, Mumbai

Asian Paints and St+art humbled for the support extended by Mumbaikars

Mumbai, March 2016: Public art unites people to cities and creates a sense of belonging. Asian Paints and St+art India Foundation joined hands to create Mumbai’s first-of-its-kind public art with a unique, life-size typographic installation that reads “लव Mumbai”. Unlike traditional public art structures that have statues or abstract sculptures, “लव Mumbai” has a ‘heart’ symbol creatively laced within the Devanagari script, possessing a universal, modern-day appeal. The installation unveiled in Bandra Reclamation stands tall, giving Mumbai a whole new landmark and people the world over, a unique connect with this city that never sleeps.

The installation originally created for Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda Festival fetched mass appreciation and gave rise to the pledge from Mumbaikars to make it a permanent part of the city. Asian Paints and St+art India Foundation is grateful to MSRDC for offering a premium and panoramic location near Bandra -Worli Sea Link for setting up the magnanimous “लव Mumbai” structure. Also DB Realty helped build this dream installation in to a reality. The larger than life structure was unveiled today at Bandra Reclamation, in the presence of Mrs. Snehal Ambekar-Honourable Mayor of Mumbai, Mr. Eknath Shinde, Honourable Minister- MSRDC,  Aditya Thackeray - Head of Yuva Sen and dignitaries from Asian Paints and St+art.

Speaking at the unveiling, Amit Syngle, President-Sales, Marketing & Technology, Asian Paints Ltd said, “At Asian Paints, we have always believed that Art wins hearts. “लव Mumbai”, is a testimony to our belief. Along with St+art Foundation, we worked towards making “लव Mumbai” an indelible part of Mumbai’s future and here it is, standing tall at Mumbai’s most loved suburb. We would particularly like to thank MSRDC and DB Realty for their support in making this iconic structure permanent.”

Hanif Kureshi Co-Founder of St+art India Foundation said, “When it comes to public art, we have been seeing more of figurative or abstract sculptures, but there aren't any 'typographical' sculptures. “लव Mumbai” is new way to celebrate urban pride in a form of vernacular typography sculpture. We hope that eventually “लव Mumbai” will become the symbol of the city.”

Designed by artist Hitesh Malaviya in collaboration with Hanif Kureshi, “लव Mumbai” incorporates a red-coloured ‘heart’, sitting with poise on a white base that reads ‘Mumbai’. This powerful icon cuts across all demographics and language barriers. The representation of love (लव) in Devanagari adds a multi-lingual appeal and imbibes elements from the modern day Hinglish speaking generation and popular culture. From the roadside Romeo to Milton Glaser (the designer of 'I heart NY' logo), heart symbol is a timeless and universal expression of the deep love that resides in the hearts of a city’s residents. With “लव Mumbai”, this expression has made its way in to an Indian city for the first time. The dimensions of “लव Mumbai” installation stand at 20 ft in length, 7 ft in height, 1.5 ft in depth and few miles long in impact the world over.

Renowned Illustrator from Mumbai, Sameer Kulavoor has been roped in to create more illustrations of the people of Mumbai on the sculpture in times to come.