07/18/2020
Featuring Sarasvathy TK from New Jersey, USA. She is well-known for her hyper-realistic paintings of Indian cuisine. She was born in Chennai, moved to UAE post her Education in Computer Science Engineering, and then to Singapore, before settling down in New Jersey.
She has worked as part of several prestigious assignments for the Ministry of Defence, Singapore as well as IBM India. However, her calling for art got her to quit her job and pursue art full-time and she is been doing wonders ever since. She majorly works with Oil paints on Linen and is a self-taught artist. She has received several awards and had her artworks featured in various exhibitions in Taiwan, Singapore, Arizona, New Jersey, California, New York, and India. We are really happy to have you here, thank you for being a part of TFN-Featured.
Interviewed by Alisha Viyoral Barboza
Asst. Coordinator – TFN-Featured
Let us have a look at her interview…
1. Where are you based from and what do you do currently?
“I am based out of New Jersey, USA. I am a hyper-realistic artist portraying my works using Oil on Linen. I am currently working on a project called ‘Bhojan’ covering 11 or more well-known Indian dishes.”
2. How did you develop an interest in hyperrealism art?
“Drawing and scribbling on paper using Pencil was always of interest but, never took it seriously till 2008. One of the reasons for this is being Computer science engineering as educational background, never put my thoughts to action to pursue arts as my career. As it said, there is always a start for every story and this start can happen irrespective of age or time. In 2007, I visited the Musée du Louvre in Paris and later an Art exhibition in 2008 to discuss with a life partner, on my interest in drawing and painting. Those discussions and encouragement to explore this part of the world has paved the way for my first drawing and resulted to know my interest in painting.
Once stabilized with Oil on canvas i have done various genres starting from landscape & still life but my eyes were always searching a unique subject as I wanted to explore something which wasn't visited by others. This google introduced me to hyperrealism. Various works from renowned artists in the hyperrealism world and especially in food like burgers, desserts, fast foods attracted me to understand, Indian food is not explored in this context. This is where I started my journey to depict Indian food as hyper-realistic art.
To start my journey in the hyperrealism art world, I didn’t have any references or someone to look up for help. It was all self-learned analysis and when learnt Indian food is never explored within this world, I choose this genre to pay my tribute to one of the ancient and famous cuisines through my artwork. Painting is all about colours and texture along with artist thoughts, shown on canvas. According to me, any food/cuisine and especially in Indian food, you will find amazing textures & colours and this is the inspiration towards my work.”
3. Tell us about your first-ever artwork.
“Thanks for this question. It reminds me a lot of good memories and also the journey where I started. My first painting was a vase with flowers and I used Oil on canvas. I was very immature in the art world but, still managed to bring justice to myself, one the debut attempt. This work is sold to a family as a memory.”
4. Tell us about the tools/techniques you use.
“All my hyperrealism works are using Oil on 3 times oil primed Linen. I started painting right from inception using Oil on canvas and soon learnt Linen helps to get a hyper-realistic texture because of its smoothness and its great quality. To get a real-life image, I use 3 times oil primed Linen which is an excellent surface and it goes without saying, artists work to bring minutely crafted intricacies of the image on Linen, is like giving life to a picture. I use "Winsor & Newton" oil colors.”
5. How much time does it take to complete a painting?
“That is an interesting question. It all depends on what I am trying to portray over the Canvas. Details of the food item and its intricacies vary with each dish and it tough to weigh the time period. Let me answer this in a different way. It took me 2-3 months to paint ‘Idli, Sambar and Chutney’, 3 months for a Naan and more than 3 months for Dosa and Samosa paintings. So, for sure it’s a long period.”
6. What do you believe is the key element in creating a good painting?
“The characteristics that makes a painting successful is that compositions, colors, and subject matter, all work harmoniously to deliver a unified and well-executed artwork that is pleasant to the viewer and be able to deliver the thoughts of artist to the viewer clearly.”
7. Tell us about the different types of paintings you create.
“If I had to answer this 5 years back, I would have said, I have done Portraits/Landscape/contemporary etc. I started painting right from inception using Oil on canvas and soon learnt Linen helps to get a hyper-realistic texture because of its smoothness and its great quality. To get a real-life image, I use 3 times oil primed Linen which is an excellent surface and it goes without saying, artists work to bring minutely crafted intricacies of the image on Linen, is like giving life to a picture.”
6. Out of all the artwork you have created, do you happen to have a favourite?
“Not exactly. Every work is unique in its details like colours, texture, contents, condiments, and a lot more. Getting the right image of the food on a plate over to canvas is my dream and its very exclusive for each dish. Very similar to the taste of each dish. I love all my works.”
7. Your social media handle mentions that your paintings have been published in magazines, can you tell us something about them.
“Sure. ‘Dosa and Sambar’ painting has given me membership into ‘International Guild of Realism’ world, which paved way for "Samosa, Coriander Chutney, and Tamarind Chutney". I was the finalist in a juried exhibition and was published in the April subscription of ‘American Art Collector’ 2020 magazine.
My artworks were featured by "THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE" and " Deccan Herald ".”
8. Who are your motivations, inspirations, and supporters?
“Absolutely. My biggest supporter is my husband without whom I wouldn’t have reached this stage. As I explained about renowned artists within the hyperrealism world, Tjalf Sparnaay and Mary Ellen Johnson Art are few of my so-called inspiration. I love their creation to the core which has influenced me a lot. This is due to the minutely detailed work depicting colour and texture of food over oil. In my journey in the last 4-5 years, have come across similar artists but, to mention the above names, where it started.”
11. What has been your greatest artistic success?
“There are many to start with displaying my artwork at ‘Affordable Art Fair, Singapore’ in 2012 followed by 4 years of my work for Taiwan Art Society. It took a different dimension after I moved to the US. I have showcased my work (Indian food via Hyper-realism) to an audience who may be unfamiliar with the subject matter.
The results were amazing, incredible, and very welcoming. Everybody is inquisitive to know the name of the dish, culture, and even ingredients which made me write the history of these dishes in my website. I got a golden opportunity exhibiting my "Dosa and Sambar" painting in ‘Salmagundi’, an 1871 gallery in Madison Ave, NY (with members have included important American artists such as Thomas Moran, Louis Comfort Tiffany, N.C. Wyeth, etc). Along with this, ‘Idli, Sambar and Coconut chutney’ painting were exhibited at Monmouth Museum, NJ and currently my ‘Garlic Naan and Coriander’ painting is selected for an "Award of Merit" by American Woman Artist association. Before I forget, painting ‘Dosa and Sambar’ has given me membership into ‘International Guild of Realism’ world which paved way for "Samosa, Coriander Chutney, and Tamarind Chutney" was the finalist in a juried exhibition and was published in the April subscription of ‘American Art Collector’ 2020 magazine. To summarize, it’s an amazing world welcoming me to this part of the world along with my artwork and encouraging me at every door I knocked in the last 2.5 years. What I heard has come true, the USA is really an art-loving place. On 'World Idly Day' which is March 30th, to mark this day I released customized US postage stamps (22 in numbers) of my painting 'Idli Sambar and Coconut chutney' which was well appreciated by art world along with coverage in ' The Hindu Business Line ' news, followed by 2 more articles in Deccan Herald.”
12. What are the challenges you have faced as an artist and how did you overcome this?
There are a lot. I am a self-learned artist and I don’t have any degree or training. So, it was indeed a challenge at every stage of art life as I had no formal understanding of the techniques to make them work. It was all self-taught by trial and errors, looking at various videos, following all my inspiration experts, and listening to various speeches by them. I would say, I still continue this journey as every painting is different and challenging. World wide web was indeed my library and guru which taught me a lot.”
13. What do you do apart from art?
“I spend most of my time when I am not painting in my pre-production work and also promoting my work. This covers photo shoots of various dishes with food stylists and still life photographers followed by print-output of a massively high resolution for my paintings. After my painting is done, it has to go through another round of photoshoot for my website and social media promotions.”
14. What are your plans for the future?
“To continue as above said, my plan is to complete 11 paintings of Indian well-known dishes and do a solo exhibition in New York, 2021. Let’s see how destiny takes turns from there.”
15. What message do you want to convey to the young and aspiring enthusiasts in similar domains?
“Trust in your work and work hard along with gaining continuous knowledge on what is happening in the outside world, in your space. Results will surely follow, one day.”
16. What’s your opinion about TFN-Featured and everything we do here at TFN?
“A good initiative to support and encourage multiple talents.”
Follow her here:
1. page: www.facebook.com/sarasvathytk
2. Instagram Page: www.instagram.com/sarasvathytk
www.facebook.com/thefreelancernetworks www.instagram.com/tfnofficial www.tfnofficial.com
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