See more of Sumit’s work here: www.sumitmehndiratta.artweb.com
Being an artist
Please give us a few words of introduction about yourself
I’m Sumit Mehndiratta, A self taught artist from New Delhi. I’ve been working professionally as an artist since 4 years and 6 months now. Before being a professional, I was finishing my studies in Marketing and kept art as a part time passion. While studying marketing, I grew with the thought of creating my part time passion to full time profession.
When did you decide to pursue art as a career?
As i mentioned before, right after my MSc. in Strategic Marketing from Manchester University, I proceeded with my passion as profession.
What training did you have?
None. I’m a self taught artist and all my painting techniques and styles are self discovered.
What has been the high point of your career so far?
When google started predicting my name before I could finish typing it, with the label artist suffixed to it. (grins)
General Questions
What’s your favourite quote?
Creativity descends from the divine. What we create is not art, its a part of divinity.
Who is your favourite artist?
Sayed Haider Raza
What are you aiming for?
To sell my work in the price I quote it.
How will you get there?
By continuously improving my creative skills and being offering what the market demands.
Is anything holding you back?
Nothing at all.
You and art
What feelings or reactions do you hope to arouse in people who view your work? Are you ever surprised by reactions that you get?
I paint such that people wouldn’t believe that what they see was in a liquid form before and just with the help of some brushes, it can reach to such a level of beauty.
I continuously strive to portray feelings of happiness, calmness, serenity, vibrance and energy through my work. Although I can choose to create art which matches depressive thoughts (which sells the most as most of us are stressed with our lives), But I believe in spreading optimism than pessimism.
From start to finish, how long does it take for you to create your work?
Depends from an artwork to another. Different techniques and styles take different time. But on an average, it takes 4-5 days to finish one piece of art which measures 36 x 36 inches, my standard size.
What music do you like to listen to when you work?
No music at all. I don’t let anything interfere between me and my paintings. I give my 100% conscience to it.
What are you working on next? Any future plans or projects in the pipeline that we should look out for?
Yes of course. I keep on experimenting with different techniques and styles. I create stories and paint a collection inspired from it. You can expect modern semi-abstract treescapes/landscapes in my collection pretty soon.
Being inspired by art
Who (living or dead) inspires you? and why?
To be honest, I’m inspired by every living being around me. No such person/object/being inspires me specifically. Two months back I painted inspired from an eagle and last night I painted inspired from the Supernova phenomenon of stars.
What feelings, subjects or concepts inspire you as an artist?
As I mentioned before my paintings usually represents feelings of optimism and warmth. Sometimes I like experimenting with genres like kitsch and grunge..But mostly I’m inspired from nature and paint through that inspiration.
What is your favourite work that you’ve produced so far and why?
No particular favorites. All my paintings are a part of me. Its like asking me which organ of my body is my favorite.
All my paintings are my favorite. There’s none in particular.
an artist’s advice
For those thinking about turning a passion for art into a career, could you give any advice?
Just take a blank canvas and opened jar of colors and do your thing. Do not feel that you have to create something which has to sell. Put your mad hat on and experiment. And always remember, whatever you end up making, its a piece of art and cannot be compared to any other work, because the other works are not done by you.
Any tips on how to get your work seen and get the commissions coming in?
Well, you can always google my full name and help yourself with the search results. I’m registered with a couple of websites both national and internationally and you may buy your favorite work.
