Gaurav Chawla

Gaurav Chawla is a visual artist and the founder of ArtKriti, a platform for increased art awareness. This astute self-taught artist with an eye for detail picked up the brush with more zeal after an attack of optical neuritis in 2009, which left him with low vision and loss of colour in his right eye. His passion to paint and create, explore and express, is visible for all to experience in his eclectic canvases. Gaurav's journey of finding inner peace through painting continues with art that carries a full, colourful palette. He believes that life without colours is meaningless, and takes inspiration from life in all its diversity — and from the obvious, which most choose to ignore. Each moment with its own colours is what he intends to capture, not only in his paintings but also in his installation works, which are an extension of his creative thought process. Over the years, Gaurav's journey as an artist has kept refining itself with every new body of work he executes.

He has widely exhibited across India with over 50 shows, and has represented India at international shows in Canada, New York, Italy, Austin, Abu Dhabi and Vietnam.

Besides his own creative work, he believes art can play a major role in an individual's life, and works towards that through a series of initiatives. One stand-out initiative was the Peace Card — an experiment to bring the love and feeling of brotherhood based on the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One World). The programme invited people to share original artworks, sketches, poetry and images on a postcard, which resulted in a beautiful installation displayed at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. Gaurav also regularly shares his work and experience with the art community through impromptu meet-ups, exhibitions and talks focused on emerging artists.