The right strokes Oxforward

They say age is just a number and it couldn’t be truer than in the case of Andrew Paul. There was a time when this Bengaluru lad was turned away from art galleries because he was too “young and inexperienced”. Now at 23, he is in the news for being the youngest artist from India to be featured in the Oxford Encyclopedia alongside stalwarts!

“I was thrilled when Clara Joseph, a professor at Oxford University got in touch with me, keen on featuring one of my works in ‘The Bible and the Arts in South Asia’ section of the encyclopedia,” says Andrew, an alumnus of Commits College in the city. The piece in question is an oil on canvas that he calls Mighty My Saviour. “A lot of people have interpreted it differently, but for me, it depicts the idea that although people sin, God forgives and continues to love them,” he says of the artwork. Call it divine providence if you will, Andrew admits that like most of his works, he dreamt of this one too, but after his retreat at a divinity centre in Potta, Kerala. “I woke up inspired and painted this piece for six hours straight,” he says. If you haven’t guessed it already, this one goes into his priceless collections. “The other works in the book are from the 18 and 19 centuries and the artists are long gone. I wouldn’t sell this one,” he smiles, now clutching the latest editions, two volumes of the encyclopedia that easily run up to '28,000, but are of course, free for him.

The self-taught artist who dabbles in oil and acrylic paints on canvas and wood has clients from Australia, UAE and across India. Six of his works even adorn the plush interiors of India’s 27th richest billionaire, Ajay Kalsi’s home. Yet, he is grounded, even auctioning his pieces for charity. “The most recent one was at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai where one of my works, Time Capsules was auctioned off for about 5,000 Dirhams (Rs 90,000 approximately) with the proceeds going to aid kids affected by the Iraq war. I was contacted by an art dealer whose specialty includes the works of one of my inspirations, Leonardo Da Vinci,” says Andrew.

While he waits for inspiration to strike for his next piece, Andrew doubles as a copywriter with an ad firm in Bengaluru. “While art on social media is limited to likes and shares, I’m looking to expand it by building my own website,” he says about what’s next on the canvas.