Subhash Awchat was born in 1950 in Otur, Pune district, Maharashtra. He has indulged in multifarious efficacies in his life, like writing, painting and designing. Awchat started his career as a graphic designer, but he left the world of advertising to start painting. From the age of sixteen, he started designing book covers. The book “Bandishala” by poet Yashwant was his first book cover.

Subhash Awchat is a painter who shares his journeys and the adolescent influences that bestowed such a deep imprint on his mind and nurtured, nurtured his art practice as well. The colours of the farm, hills, ancient temples, forest, animals; his mother’s rangolis and wall paintings with a peacock feather – all left indelible impressions which find their way in his works. The artworks, illustrations from his childhood magazine “Chandoba”; circus at the riverbank in his village, it’s torn tent, petromax lantern and clown are the few relevant visuals based on his childhood memories that reappear.

Some of his notable works include, his series of works on coolies in 1986, “Paper and People” series of paintings that come from the experiences of his life and people in the press. His series “Gold- the inner light” comes from the thought of travelling through many cultures in the world – that initially and eventually the philosophy of every culture roams around the stone. “Jump in Orange” series of paintings comes after the dialogue between him and Osho.

“Colours are crucial to my work. They hold everything together. The images as well as the sentiments are created by them. They hit you in the face, be it the bright red, the orange and the saffron, making you blink. Figurative and with highly original themes depicted in the best story-telling traditions.” Subhash Awchat.

In his latest body of works ‘Devrai’, he presents a unique extensive oeuvre – we see an artist successfully attempting to join literature to figurative painting – much like the painters of the renaissance. He bares himself releasing an interiority of emotion and aesthetics. The application and limited palette with golden, black and one other subtle colour creates a very powerful visual feel. The texture and golden pigment play many roles in his work. The feel of fireflies and the gap between sparse trees, the penetrating sunbeam through trees – the golden appears in his painting through magical surrealism. There is no disdain and there is no urgency; rather a reflection, as he proposes poetry that can be read and its resonance found in our actions.