‘Illiterate’ artist proves where there’s a will there’s a way Published: Wed, 23 October 2013 10:16 PM SRINAGAR: Passion for painting has turned a virtually illiterate young man into an artist who now holds credit for giving Kashmir Valley first-of-its-kind privately owned art gallery. Javaid Ahmad Rather, son of a vegetable-seller from Budoo Bagh in downtown Srinagar, has been a painter since he was 15, without having any formal training from an art school. Javaid had left education after 10th standard. But it was his fascination for painting that turned him into a fine painter whose work displayed on the footpaths of Hazratbal captivates many passersby. “As a kid, I used to spend time with my teacher Nazir Ahmad whose formal profession was papier-mâché. He used to make papier-mâché Christmas bells which were exported to Finland, and I used to assist him after school time. I was 12 then,” Javaid recollected while speaking to Kashmir Reader. “Then our family’s financial problems made me take up papier-mâché as a profession early in my life. And that is when Nazir started teaching us the art of painting, which he himself had learned from a non-local artist.” Javaid was among Nazir’s four students, but only he went on to pursue painting as a career, obviously because of his passion and talent. It was against his parents’ wishes, though. “At the age of 15, I started working very hard at this art; I spent days on painting. After leaving school, I took up painting as my profession and started taking orders from the hotels. It didn’t go well with my family because my paintings wouldn’t find buyers immediately. My family is not happy with my choice even now,” Javaid, who lives with his parents and five siblings, said.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:47:20 +0000
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