I was always fond of drawing and painting and other forms of creative expression from my school days. I decided to pursue my passion in art and the desire to be an artist, by undergoing a formal training, a Master’s Degree in Art in the year 1988. This is where my journey as an artist began. After nine years of painting, I had my first solo exhibition inaugurated by the legendry Late Mr. S.L. Kirloskar in the year 1986. The exhibition was a great success not only in terms of the positive response but also for the fact that I sold 45 of the 60 paintings in three days. This encouraging feedback and appreciation of my work motivated me to further pursue art as a career and made me more involved in the art world. My next show was at the prestigious Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and was inaugurated by Mr. Sahdruddin Daya, one of the biggest art connoisseurs and collectors of modern art those days. In the same show, Late Jamshed Bhabhaji of TATA, personally collected my work and promoted me on their corporate calendar along with some of the biggest names in the Indian art world, like the legendary M F Hussain, K H Ara, Laxman Shreshtha and Anjolie Ela Menon. This further boosted my confidence to pursue art as a career in a sustained manner. The Late Maharani Gayatri Devi also rendered support to my work. Besides them, many of the illustrious names in the corporate world like Bharat Forge, Godrej group of companies, the Walchandnagar Industries, the Taj group, the Kirloskar Group, Bajaj, Firodia collected my works and leant support in my initial years and this enabled to reaffirm my belief in my art.
