HIS FATHER sells vegetables. And he sells paintings. Sameer Mehndi Hasan, now 25, learnt it from a boy in his hometown. But, later he honed his skills and did it.
He has a piggy bank. After collecting enough money for a painting, he creates one. And this way, he and his piggy bank have made 38 paintings. He has put up an exhibition of these paintings at Gallery d’ Art, Gomti Nagar. His passion for painting is revealed when he says, “I don’t draw. My heart draws. I just follow it.” Sameer belongs to Kalpi, a small town near Kanpur and he is the youngest of nine brothers and sisters.
He says, “I only make paintings. Selling them or negotiating the prices is not my job. My brother does it for me, as I don’t know the intricacies of business.”
“Doing this collection of paintings was very difficult as I never had enough money to buy the painting material. I used to do artwork on order whenever I got an opportunity. And then from the money that I got from selling that artwork, I used it to buy painting material. This is how this collection of 36 paintings got completed in six months duration,” says he.
Sameer left studies after high school as he was never interested in pursuing what could hardly give him satisfaction. “I always wanted to paint and draw,” he says. Never seen the walls of an art school either. He learnt it from a boy in the town, who later moved out to Delhi. And then the rest was his hard work and dedication. “I stayed in a dingy room in Delhi for a number of months to learn art from a friend. That period was very difficult for me,” Sameer says.
{{/usCountry}}Sameer left studies after high school as he was never interested in pursuing what could hardly give him satisfaction. “I always wanted to paint and draw,” he says. Never seen the walls of an art school either. He learnt it from a boy in the town, who later moved out to Delhi. And then the rest was his hard work and dedication. “I stayed in a dingy room in Delhi for a number of months to learn art from a friend. That period was very difficult for me,” Sameer says.
{{/usCountry}}He has been painting for past ten years but this is his first exhibition. He has used ceramics and oil paints on ply board. It takes him almost seven to eight days to complete one painting. “All my paintings either have Ganesha, flowers and historical figures,” he gives his punchline.