Merry Christmas 2021: The art work was a 50ft long and 28ft wide sand sculpture of Santa Claus
On Christmas eve, international sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a huge sand sculpture of Santa Claus at Puri beach in Odisha with about 5,400 roses.
Mr Sudarsan sculpted the sand Santa Claus with an installation of red roses and other flowers to reflect the message "Merry Christmas, Enjoy your Christmas with COVID guidelines".
Mr Sudarsan's 50ft long and 28ft wide sand sculpture of Santa Claus took eight hours for carving and two days for preparation, with the help from his sand art institute to complete the art installation.
"We all know the third wave of COVID-19 already started almost all over the World, so we created this sculpture where Santa is spreading a message of following COVID guidelines," said Mr Sudarsan, a Padma Shri awardee known for his topical sand art.
"I hope this will set a new record in the record book," he said.
Mr Sudarsan's sand sculptures on COVID-19 were appreciated by World Health Organisation (WHO).