Does artistic talent run in families? Or can anyone, with dedication and practice, acquire it? Damini Gupta makes a good case for both.
A quick scroll through her Instagram page filled with charcoal-black studies of women – mysterious, dissected and raw – leaves you in no doubt of her creative prowess. But despite having brilliant painters for a mother and grandmother, Gupta begs to differ, pointing out that while art always had been a huge part of her life, all she drew as a youngster was somewhat proportionate biology diagrams.
Art as voice
It was as an angst ridden teenager at boarding school that Gupta starting to turn to art more and more. As she’s a quiet, non-confrontational person, art become her voice, and did all the speaking, screaming and ranting on her behalf.
Nurturing skill
After college, Gupta used YouTube to learn about graphic design software, and with lots and lots of practice and patience, worked on honing her skills, built a portfolio and is now a full time freelancer.
Damini’s art
Gupta says that now, her art is something she works hard at, and no one can take that away from her.
“I don’t think I’m at a place where I can describe any of my art as ‘remarkable’, but my favourite work usually happens when I least expect it,” Gupta comments.
She points out that her piece titled ‘Fuck This’ was drawn in frustration when she was running late for an event and unexpectedly got her period. The drawing made her even more late of course, but ended up being a cathartic experience.
‘Adapt’, her striking series of acrylic paintings on glass was actually started as an experiment.
Gupta wanted to portray how people can alter basic human characteristics according to circumstance, but still remain the same, in essence. Glass as a medium was used synonymously; the artwork remains the same, but the perception of it varies according to the background, even while the intrinsic qualities of the medium or the artwork remain unaltered.
“Just like we do, the paintings change, modify and evolve with their surroundings.”
What’s next?
Gupta says that she continues to learn and grow as a person and an artist. And that she has not lost hopes of getting that art degree some day!
Gupta may have inherited her artistic genes from her family, but her journey just illustrates that you can train yourself to be more skilled, and more creative. Click here to see her portfolio and here to follow her on Instagram. We can’t wait to see what she does next.
Written by Anisha Kashwani
Featured image credit: Damini Gupta
