Building art with technique

Artist Ashok Kumar presentshis works 'Shifting Realities' at Kalakriti Contemporary, Club Botanika, Gachibowli. Born in Sholapur and raised in Hyderabad, artist Ashok Kumar graduated from School of Fine Arts and Architecture, Hyderabad.

By profession, he is an architect and painting is his hobby. "I started to sketch and paint using watercolour and charcoal even as a young boy and started to work with acrylic paints and clay over the last 25 years. This is my second exhibition. In 2017, I displayed my works at State Gallery of Art, and they were in mixed medium."

The 69-years-old architect Ashok Kumar adorned the walls of some of the buildings he planned with his own paintings, which included mythical Indian figures, ceremonial/ancient structures, and abstracts. He says, "I designed premier houses and famous commercial buildings, industries, restaurants and hotels in Hyderabad and Secunderabad."

Ashok Kumar plays boldly with vibrant and monochrome colours and gets influenced by the historical buildings and monuments which link his profession. He says, "I draw inspiration from the lifestyle of various people, and the architecture and landscape and surroundings, which I depict in my painting using simple tones and shades."

He dwells in both abstract and real-life painting and sometimes combines them both. "I experiment with various kinds of medium, including oil, acrylic, water. He, sometimes brings in more elements such as white cement and clay paste which give his paintings a distinct texture."

Ashok Kumar developed his own genre of paintings that use ceramic as a medium over the canvas with acrylic and oil colours. His impasto technique gives his paintings a unique texture and a dimension more, using an entire palette of mediums and colours to give a hidden expression in both live and lifeless objects.