Drawing cartoons from the magazine to making photorealistic paintings, P Uday Bhaskar Rao has come a long way with his unique style.
Inspiration can come from anywhere and in artist Uday Bhaskar’s case, it’s all around him. Taking everyday instances and objects, he turns them into an illusion so beautiful that one finds it difficult to distinguish between painting and reality
For instance, a pile of plump juicy tomatoes painted by him is so detailed that you can even see the tiniest of wrinkles on the surface. Skilled at drawing from an early age, his parents encouraged him to follow his passion. “My parents never stopped me. In fact my father was my inspiration, as he used to draw in his free time. I used to imitate him by sketching magazine cartoons,” says Uday. Having decided to pursue a career in fine arts, he left school when he was 14-years-old.
“I wanted to join a Fine Arts College after Class 10, but JNAFAU’s minimum qualification was clearing Class 12. Around that time, a fine arts college in Tirupati announced openings for a diploma so I quit Class 11 and joined the Sri Venkateswara Shilpakalashala to study Indian traditional art.” Soon after completing his diploma, he joined BFA and MFA in Hyderabad where he found his calling in realistic painting.
His paintings are so detailed that one can even see the tiniest of wrinkles on the surface of his subjects
Not one for trends, Uday likes to see art as constant and unchanging, it’s why he works on series rather than a single subject. “That’s the beauty of it. My paintings have a constant qualityto them. Basic sketches become magnificent compositions with just minor tweaking so they fit with the current trends,” says the 35-year-old. His paintings are neither decorative nor ethnographic in nature, but echo his personal experience in their simple elegance. The subjects are varied, from currency coins, fruits, vegetables to even buildings which he turns into a visual story. However, it is food that features a lot in his work. “When I was a bachelor, whenever I used to cook, the colours and texture of the food would make me want to sketch it. I guess that kind of stayed with me.”
Most of his paintings are photorealistic and takes him close to a month to finish. “I take a photograph of the subject and then start painting it on canvas. You have to play around with volume and light to get that realistic feel,” explains Uday who learnt other artistic styles under Sesha Brahmam and G Anjaneyulu. Besides this, he also makes Tanjore paintings for a living. Some of his works have been featured in many group and solo shows and commissioned by Nagarjuna constructions and Apollo group in the city and abroad. Ask him what advice he would give to aspiring artists, he says, “Only take this path, if you are truly passionate about it. It takes a lot of time to make a consistent living out of it. To sustain oneself is quite difficult.”