Art column: Young prodigy from Pune

Meet young art prodigy from Pune A big inspiration for young and adults and pride of India. For young Advait, his fanciful world of galaxies, dragons and everything vivid is very much real. He channelizes this fantastic imagination through the canvas in colours and combinations that are well beyond his years. The word “prodigal” fits his passion in true sense, which flourishes by the day with utmost sincerity. Advait lives with his parents, software engineer Amit Kolarkar and commercial artist Shruti Kolarkar, and his elder sister Swara in the suburbs of Pune, India. The walls of their house bear Advait’s creative flair that comes out in promising shapes. His fascination with art began when he was merely three months old. He would keenly gaze at black objects—wardrobes and curtains — an observation that soon turned into demand. His first few paintings are poems in motion of black strokes. Consequently, he took a fascination to art and would spend hours with his sister as she drew on papers. In one particular instance, when he was eight-months-old, his mother gave him food colours to play with. Since he was in a phase where he would want to ingest every object, Shruti thought that food colours are a safer bet. And her idea worked, for what he created on the floor from kitchen colours seemed like an effective mould; as if his imagination was coming down in verses. Soon, his penchant for playing with colours took serious proportions. When observant Advait started talking, forming sentences, colours made for an important section of his vocabulary. The amazing two-year-old could tell them apart from the shade. He points out the difference between Naples Yellow and Cadmium Yellow. For instance, he understands how Burnt Sienna is different from Raw Sienna. Also, seasons seeped into his colouring sense; the universal need for warmth in winters was put on canvas through ebullient orange and sprightly yellows and the need for breeze in summers was reflected in cooler colours. As days ticked by, his paintings gathered a momentum. There was now noticeable rhythm that was characterized by specific demands for colours and subsequently developed a taste for metallic ones. When he could mediate his thoughts in words, he expressed before brushing the paper. And so, there were dragons, galaxies, birds, flowers, sea creatures, dinosaurs and so on etched on to larger canvases. What remained unaffected was his sincerity to the art. He still does not get up before he is satisfied with the shape the painting has taken. It can take him two hours or even just 10 minutes to finish his art, which is never let unfinished. He knows where to draw the line. When the colours have taken generous shapes corresponding to his imagination, Advait stops content and happy. Advait’s hobby caught people’s fancy when Shruti casually showed his pieces to the Art2Day gallery, a popular gallery in Pune. The curator wanted to have a glance at not just the work, but the whole process. His son, who visited Advait marvelled at the wonder and said he would observe the child for half a year, to see if his penchant for art continues. It did. (These above lines have been written for Advait by his family on his website: www.advaitkolarkar.com)