Introduction
“I have always been fascinated by content that exudes the vibrant energy of life, whether it’s a scorching desert after precious rain or the instinctive mating dance of a peacock. In six decades of intimate experience with art in both the eastern and western traditions, I found this life force to be present as an “inner light” in my content, to which I had profound emotional and spiritual responses. I create art to reflect this emotional experience of ‘inner light of life energy’ in a spontaneous, fleeting manner. The spontaneity in my reflections leads to elements of abstraction in my works, yet I am distinctively focused on the human experience. I emphasize this by using strong, broad strokes and employment of various color techniques. My medium spans water colors, oils, oil pastels, fresco, mosaic, original digital works, and photographic experimentations. I intimately believe that my original art is an expression of deep personal emotional and spiritual experiences, which is best shared via limited edition museum quality giclées.” - Om Upadhya
Biography
Dr. Om Upadhya, Ph.D., was born November 1st, 1937 during the British Raj in India, in a family whose lineage claims descent from the author of Vishnudharmottara Purana, the treatise of Arts in India dating back to 4th century A.D. During his early years, Om experimented with tonal impressionism, shifting focus from lines and shapes to simply areas of light and dark tones.
Om went on to become a gold medalist with dual focus in Commercial and Fine Arts at the prestigious JJ School of Arts in Mumbai, with contemporary greats of modern art in India such as B. Prabha, Jatin Das, Kalidas Shrestha and Prabhakar Bharve.
Experiments with Realism, Impressionism, Cubism and Abstract were combined with archaic forms of planer and spatial approaches in Indian Miniature and Folk Art from Rajasthan (Bundi and Nathadwara) to form the basis of Om’s early work. He exhibited in the first ever Bombay State Art Exhibition and won first place in the first Rajasthan Lalit Kala Akademi, published in Design magazine, and designed large murals in Belgrade, New Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Chittorgarh. Om achieved a Masters in Fine Arts degree from Akademi of Arts in Belgrade and studied various traditions in European Art.
The culmination of these various academic, commercial and personal experiences was Om’s thesis on a comparative study between Ajanta and Sopocani, which traced reflections of inner light (prana aesthetics) in the art of these two monasteries. This thesis was published by Motilal Banarsidas, the famous Indological publishers and earned distinction as “rare research and research of national importance” by the Government of India. Pursuing academia, Om was a founder of Takhman, a progressive art movement to define art from Rajasthan at a national level. He served on the panel of reviewers on Leonardo International Art Journal and published several articles in it. While not commercially active, Om continued his active experimentations with art and various media.
Immigration to the United States in the 1990s exposed Om to various new avenues of creativity, such as digital photography and art, video editing, multimedia, web and graphic design. He has taught traditional, animation and multimedia art courses at the prestigious Art Institute, and continues to actively paint in his in-home studio.
Om lives and works near Miami in the United States.
Om Expressions
Om Expressions is an initiative to share Om’s art with viewers in the form of museum quality giclées available for purchase. It is an extensive collection of over a thousand works of art spanning six decades into today, which are now being introduced via a variety of avenues such as social media, global exhibitions and online storefronts. It is also a platform for Om and other lovers of art to connect and share their unique experiences and views.