My dream is to open a miniature art school: Suvigya Sharma

Suvigya Sharma’s passion for miniature art becomes apparent the minute you start talking to him. He hails from a family of artists and imbibed artistic traits from his father RK Sharma. In fact, he is a third generation artist. And while he sticks to traditional art forms, he knows and realises the importance of creating awareness and nurturing this art form. His clientele includes the Birlas, the Ambanis, the Burmans, the Singhanias, the Bajaj family, LN Mittal’s family in London and the Piramals among others. Bollywood, too, has taken note of his work. He has created artworks for Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Rani Mukerji. Born and brought up in Jaipur, he now shuttles between Mumbai and the Pink City. He recently spoke to us about his journey so far and his dreams for the future.

Beginnings

I am from Jaipur, that’s where I have my workshop. I started out pretty early. At the age of seven, I used to make portraits. Since my dad is an artist, I used to observe him a lot. Also, it just came naturally to me. I didn’t undergo any formal training. Of course, I used to practise a lot. I remember I used to make very sharp portraits with pencil and charcoal. Later when I went to school they used to encourage me and used to send me to various competitions. I am a third- generation artist. Both my father and grandfather are artists. It’s a legacy of almost 80 years. Even now, I spend five-six hours a day in my workshop everyday. That time is very important to me. It’s like meditation.

All about miniature paintings

With modern painting coming in, miniature art was perishing, but now I see it all coming back in a big way. I was the official artist with the Make In India campaign doing miniature. I had two parallel shows, one in Make In India week and one at a South Mumbai gallery. At the workshop, there were 150-200 kids from all the prominent art schools. Many of them actually flew down to attend the workshop. I was so thrilled! They came up with the most difficult questions to answer. Looking at the response and interest among people, I have now decided to hold more art workshops, not just in India but in other countries, too.

God is in the detail

Miniature painting is the derivation of any kind of art in the world. I always emphasise on it. I can see the transformation that’s happening. It’s an interesting time. Miniature basically means minute, so even when one is making a portrait you are following the same technique. For example, if you are making an eye, you have to get the minute details right to make it seem life like. ‎It take six to eight hours to paint an eye. People who look out for art as an investment, this is liked by them too. 

I never planned to get into this as a profession. In 2000, I finished my course in Foreign Trade Export Management. Around that time, I visited Mumbai and met some people who asked me to do some portraits for them. That was the first artwork I sold for about `19,000. That was a stepping stone.

B-Town baatein

The first A-list Bollywood celebrity he worked for, was Priyanka Chopra. She wanted to send marble thalis as Diwali gifts to her friends from the industry. They were all customised. We created around 250 pieces. Besides being a massive order, we had to take care of details like symmetry in every piece. I am one of those people who wants things absolutely right. She was so amazing to work with. And was very involved with the whole thing.

She would check each and every piece. I also did a paiting for her. After that I mastered Tanjore. Tanjore all these years was about gold, what I focussed on was fusing it with miniature art.

After PC, I worked with the Ambanis and Birlas who have been our clients for many years now. In Bollywood, apart from PC, I have also done portraits and some artwork for Rani.  I am doing three portraits for Kangana, who inaugurated my art show. 

It has been a great journey because it was never planned. But now I want to plan the way ahead. I want to travel around the world and hold workshops.

Fashion way forward

I am also planning to launch my own clothing line. I will be painting on my jackets with gold. There will be a launch in Rajasthan. I will be starting with traditional attire like jodhpurs, Indo western and Nehru jackets with hand-painting on it. It’s the same procedure that we use as the paintings. It can take about 15 days. I can’t get my staff to do it. All the clothes will be exclusive because no two pieces will be alike as they are hand-painted.

Music and lyrics

I love music and dance. I used to teach dance way back when I was a teenager. I want to cut an album. I love Sufi songs, that’s the kind of music I want to create. I am not trained, but I grasp things pretty fast. That’s been a blessing.

My wife, my muse

My wife Charu has been a major pillar of support. We have been married for 11 years and have known each other for 17 years. She keeps pushing me to do various things. It was she who keeps insisting that since I am good at singing and dancing I should explore those avenues as well.

It’s in the genes

My son Abhigya is three-and-a-half years and he loves art too. He likes paintings on big canvases. He’s too young to plan things, but his teachers praise his work. I observe him paint and he enjoys it a lot. Like me, he wants a big palette, lots of colours. When he paints he wants to see many colours at the same time. His vision is great and his flow of hand is very smooth.

The difficult clients

There are all sorts of clients. People hand a photo which has a side profile and want us to make a front-facing portrait. It’s unrealistic to expect something like that. We can do certain things... like make the eyes prominent or make the smile broader, but sometimes people have unrealistic expectations. But as a professional you have to learn to deal with all sorts of people. Patience is the key.

The best compliment

When I started out, there was a client who asked me to do a portrait of his wife who had passed away a year ago. After I delivered the portrait they were amazed. I asked them for `35,000, they said even if you had asked for `1 lakh we would have given it to you. They praised my work a lot and pointed out that the work I had created was worth far more emotionally. That was a touching moment.

A lot of hard work

My 2014 show took a long time to plan. It had a painting of Siddhivinayak Ganesha. I had attempted to make a four dimensional work. The painting took almost one-and-a-half year. It has now been mentioned in India Book of Records, Asia Book of Records and now we have applied for the Guinness Book of Records.

Big dreams

My dream is to open a miniature art school. It won’t happen in five years, but within a decade, we’ll definitely have own art school. 

Also, among  other people I wanted to do something  for Sachin Tendulkar when he announced his retirement. I wanted to create 24 of his glorious moments, but that didn’t happen. I still have the content though. Even if it’s not 24 artworks, I want to make one piece and gift it to him.