Bollywood on a Matchbox Painting

As a self-taught multi-disciplinary artist, Sumit Mehndiratta has found his way into the art world as a prolific artist working since 2009. He has worked with online art galleries and exhibited his works across the UK, USA, UAE, Japan, Italy, China and India. He has also worked on several projects in the US, UK and UAE. Inspired from nature and abstraction, his works are a visual feast that provokes individualistic interpretations. Sumit’s art transcends traditional media, incorporating everything from canvas and digital art to mixed media and wall sculptures. His unique tools and painting techniques emphasise a broader ethic: art as an ever-changing and always enjoyable journey. Describing his style of work, Sumit avers, “My main genre of work is nature and abstraction, which is prominent in most of my works. I adore abstraction and how everyone perceives it differently. An interpretation of an abstract artwork is a unique insight to a person’s psyche which is fascinating.” Sumit claims to have been experimental since childhood. He believes in improvising when starting with a new piece. As he goes on, he finds new ways to come up with visual patterns which are exciting and unique. Sometimes he has to create his own tools to accompany the visual patterns he comes up with, “I usually discover different techniques and patterns during improvisation and then construct my own tools to execute the ideas effectively. When I see a strong pattern emerging, I set it up as a theme and make a series of paintings on them. When the technique gets repetitive, I wait for another inspiration to strike, and I move onto the next series,” professes Sumit. He does not have any single ‘patented style’ as he terms it to be mere repetition which is unexciting and tasking. He believes repetition could be a major contributing factor to an artist block. He adds on saying that his works are not entirely skill based as a skill needs to be perfected by doing it repeatedly over a long period of time; “My art is more about the playfulness and excitement of how beautiful visual patterns and colours can emerge during improvisation. I believe in having fun in my studio and my art as a result of it.” Being an animal lover, Sumit focuses on giving back to nature. He contributes some of his earnings towards animal welfare as he is passionate about donating to NGO’s and other independent animal activists in India that rescues, heal and feed stray animals.