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How it all started:
As far as I remember I was always passionate for art. I used to maintain a file of drawings ever since I was in primary school. Drawing was necessary on the last day of exam. Like I used to crave to draw something. But as we all know how our education system works, it never occurred to me that art could be a career till recently and hence I never took any formal training. Unfortunately I was good at studies and specially science so I was as every second person was preparing for IIT and was pretty much sure that I'll make it. In 12th grade I unfortunately happen to get diagnosed with hodgkins lymhpoma (cancer) for the first time. Determined to not repeat a year I passed the board exams with 90% plus in PCM overall and joined a private college in Pune to become a great mechanical engineer. Even though getting marks was easy and I kept excelling, I couldn't keep myself away from art and noticed a huge empty wall that could be painted and so I painted it. That became an annual trend and my journey as a graffiti artist began.
From passion to profession:
Walls attracted me more than canvas. The fact that my artwork was way bigger than me in size drove me towards graffiti. Also the need for money played a big role. To earn an extra buck I started doing my classmate's homework. When that couldn't make me enough money I went out to potential clients to tell them what I could do and how cheap it would be than buying canvas paintings. As convincing I thought I was it was very difficult to make people even think of spending money on wall painting. Then RedBull somehow magically got interested and offered to make a video of me painting a wall and so they did and put it up online and I officially became a professional graffiti artist.
Reality Check:
My 4 years course was about to get done and I was not at all interested in engineering anymore. I was mostly thinking about how I struggled through cancer and ever since I got cured I did everything i always wanted to do and never got scared. But this was certainly scary but by now I had been selected to intern at a leading mechanical company and had tasted the reality of an employee for six months. So yes by now engineering had told me clearly about what not to do.
Life as an artist:
It wasn't easy and its still not easy to live an artists life. In the beginning work never came and even later the frequency wasn't that great but i had to keep going because i refused to join any company. Even when work started to come its always an internal struggle to make sure you think you have made the right choice. two years went by quickly with the financial struggles, emotional struggles and the struggle to keep going.
Fun:
Yes life wasn't all about struggles. I loved my life as an artist every time I completed an art piece or some magazine or newspaper wanted to cover me. Though not very stable, I managed to pull out happy life for two years post graduation, trying to improve by the day I think i was doing fine. I decided to open my own art firm and obviously got struck by another financial crisis but by now I had learned to live with extremely small figures in the bank account and the idea for Jumbish was born. Then came the day when it went official and I and two of my partners were ready to sign the papers and register the company. Little did I know that the test results for the small nodes growing in my neck and the registration had to happen on the same day. Yet again I was diagnosed positive and here it was Hodgkin lymphoma( stage 4 this time).
Appeal:
I am currently getting Chemotherapy at Navy Hospital, Colaba and need funds for continuous Chemo sessions. I am starting this crowdfunding campaign with Phalguni's support so that I can raise funds for my Chemo session and again rise on my feet and continue with my artwork.
As far as I remember I was always passionate for art. I used to maintain a file of drawings ever since I was in primary school. Drawing was necessary on the last day of exam. Like I used to crave to draw something. But as we all know how our education system works, it never occurred to me that art could be a career till recently and hence I never took any formal training. Unfortunately I was good at studies and specially science so I was as every second person was preparing for IIT and was pretty much sure that I'll make it. In 12th grade I unfortunately happen to get diagnosed with hodgkins lymhpoma (cancer) for the first time. Determined to not repeat a year I passed the board exams with 90% plus in PCM overall and joined a private college in Pune to become a great mechanical engineer. Even though getting marks was easy and I kept excelling, I couldn't keep myself away from art and noticed a huge empty wall that could be painted and so I painted it. That became an annual trend and my journey as a graffiti artist began.
From passion to profession:
Walls attracted me more than canvas. The fact that my artwork was way bigger than me in size drove me towards graffiti. Also the need for money played a big role. To earn an extra buck I started doing my classmate's homework. When that couldn't make me enough money I went out to potential clients to tell them what I could do and how cheap it would be than buying canvas paintings. As convincing I thought I was it was very difficult to make people even think of spending money on wall painting. Then RedBull somehow magically got interested and offered to make a video of me painting a wall and so they did and put it up online and I officially became a professional graffiti artist.
Reality Check:
My 4 years course was about to get done and I was not at all interested in engineering anymore. I was mostly thinking about how I struggled through cancer and ever since I got cured I did everything i always wanted to do and never got scared. But this was certainly scary but by now I had been selected to intern at a leading mechanical company and had tasted the reality of an employee for six months. So yes by now engineering had told me clearly about what not to do.
Life as an artist:
It wasn't easy and its still not easy to live an artists life. In the beginning work never came and even later the frequency wasn't that great but i had to keep going because i refused to join any company. Even when work started to come its always an internal struggle to make sure you think you have made the right choice. two years went by quickly with the financial struggles, emotional struggles and the struggle to keep going.
Fun:
Yes life wasn't all about struggles. I loved my life as an artist every time I completed an art piece or some magazine or newspaper wanted to cover me. Though not very stable, I managed to pull out happy life for two years post graduation, trying to improve by the day I think i was doing fine. I decided to open my own art firm and obviously got struck by another financial crisis but by now I had learned to live with extremely small figures in the bank account and the idea for Jumbish was born. Then came the day when it went official and I and two of my partners were ready to sign the papers and register the company. Little did I know that the test results for the small nodes growing in my neck and the registration had to happen on the same day. Yet again I was diagnosed positive and here it was Hodgkin lymphoma( stage 4 this time).
Appeal:
I am currently getting Chemotherapy at Navy Hospital, Colaba and need funds for continuous Chemo sessions. I am starting this crowdfunding campaign with Phalguni's support so that I can raise funds for my Chemo session and again rise on my feet and continue with my artwork.
Kartikey's Medical Statement:
