CHENNAI: A finely detailed acrylic painting of an African elephant and a turbaned, rustic-looking man are standout works of Ganesh’s repertoire that caught the eye at the Life and Art Academy, Adyar. All the more impressive is when you realise that the talented 13-year-old’s first exhibition will be on display at the Art Houz Gallery from today.
A student of Kendriya Vidyalaya IIT, Ganesh has been under the watchful eyes of Dewakar Chandran, founder of Life and Art Academy, for the last three years. “I started out by scribbling and drawing mythological characters from Indian epics, and at seven I learnt to draw cartoons,” he smiles.
“Though initially I wanted to do sculpting, but I went with art. I was initiated step by step through pastels, watercolour, oil painting and acrylic through live study (using props).”
He adds that he is more interested in painting wildlife and fauna because of the minute details and also the different lightings possible. “Slowly I started learning all mediums.
I only recently thought of exhibiting my works. Though I’ve reached a level of comfort with most mediums, I do have a preference. I am not too fond of water-colours because it’s tough to control the flow of colours. Sometimes the outcome is good, but at other times it’s pathetic,” he laughs.
However, he has learnt through trial and error and states that currently oil is his choice. “It dries very slowly, and if you make any mistakes you can always change it. You can keep applying layers and work with it in different ways. The only problem with oil is that you need to wait for it to dry to apply the second layer.”
Ganesh says that he observes painters and artists like Raja Ravi Varma, Rembrandt, and Picasso. His exhibition will be inaugurated by Jayaram Ramachandran, creative director, Posterwala Design Company.
Ganesh’s art work will be on display at Art Houz Gallery, Alwarpet till April 2