Art world abuzz over Indianorigin child prodigy’s paintings
TORONTO:ADVAIT Kolarkar recently had some of his paintings displayed at the annual Artexpo in New York, a destination event for the art industry.
Advait has previously had two solo exhibitions of his artwork — at a gallery in Saint John in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, where he lives, and in Pune, the city where he was born.
He was unavailable for an interview as it was past his bedtime when this correspondent called, but his mother confirmed his future plans include starting school later this year, for Advait is all of four years old.
Advait is being described as a prodigy, and discovered art when he started crawling as a baby. His mother Shruti Kolarkar, a visual designer, said, “His elder sister Swara used to paint with watercolours and he would take them and use that on the floor.”
When a gallery owner in Pune came to know of his talent, he was invited for his first solo exhibition.
Within weeks of that debut, the family moved to Canada. Advait continued to flourish and his parents approached the cultural affairs officer of the city of Saint John, who also happened to be the director of the city gallery.
“He insisted we should exhibit Advait’s work at the gallery,” Shruti said.
All 30 of the works on display were sold out within days. Part of the earnings are being put away towards Advait’s education in future, and some donated to charity. One of his paintings was auctioned to raise money for the Children’s Wish Foundation in Saint John.