Award-winning Indian artist, Jay Varma, whose work has been coveted by the likes of Bill Clinton and is the great grandson of the master oil painter Raja Ravi Varma (The father of Modern Indian Art) is visiting London for the first time and offering commissions in his unique hyperreal graphite style.
Jay Varma’s talent was acknowledged in 2000 when he won the Coloured Pencil Society of America Award. Bill Clinton was keen to buy the winning picture but it had already been bought by another artist and so had to make do with a signed print of Pillars Within (below).
Since then Jay has concentrated on graphite pencil portraits which combine extraordinary detail and impeccable realism with particular attention to light.
Essentially a self-taught artist, Jay continues a rich history of artistic skill and reputation through four generations of his family in India. His great grandfather, Raja Ravi Varma is still one of the most highly regarded artists in India. His grandfather, Kerala Varma,like Jay, created his reputation in charcoal and pencil. His mother, Rukmini Varma, paints in oil, her work hanging in major collections throughout the world.
Jay said: “I am thrilled to be visiting London for the first time and following in the footsteps of my Great Grandfather who became so popular in the West after he won first prize at the Vienna Art Exhibition in 1873.
“I have been developing my unique style over the last few years . I work from photographs that I take myself and from still life. My work is so distinctive because of the hypereal nature and although in print it looks almost like a photograph, when you see the portrait in real life it has even greater depth.”
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