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Artist Exhibitions:
Exhibitions include: Queens
Main Public Library, New York
City Ballet Gallery,
Fingernail demonstration at
Kate's Paperie in Soho and
Indian show in Natural History
Museum.
The New York Public Library,
Donnell Library Center 20 West
53rd Street, New York, N.Y.
and
gave live fingernail embossing
demonstration IAAC's ...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Reviews:
Graphic Design USA magazine,
New York: Suhas Tavkar is a
graphic artist who uses his
fingernails as tools to
produce intricate embossed
designs pressing into the
paper to the appropriate depth
and dimensions.
U&LC magazine, New York: by
Marion Muller
Most of us don't take our
fingernails too ...
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Collections:
Mary Morris,
Roosevelt Island, New York,
USA
Mr. Simon Alicea,
New York, New York,
USA
Mr. Shantaram,
Washington DC,
USA...
Further Information
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Commissions:
Mr. Shantaram
Special Landscape design
before he left Bombay
for USA in 1975.
Mary Morris
New York,
Portrait of her Grand Child
...
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Artist Statement for Suhas Tavkar
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The art of Suhas Tavkar shows a unique relationship between the human form and the human touch that created it.
Ever since I could remember, as a child growing up in India, I was always fascinated with our universe, thinking of it as God's created largest art gallery with display of all different size planets and stars. We see this God's exhibit during the day with the sunlight and at night with the moonlight. So far, our living planet is one of nature's greatest art pieces. Our oceans are God's created largest and mysterious aquariums. I think every living creature on earth is an artist and also a wonderful piece of art by itself.
With that fascination towards nature and art, I strived to create something as unique as the world around us.
Suhas Tavkar was born in 1942 and raised in Mumbai, (Bombay) India. He was taught the art of fingernail embossing as a child, at the age of 4 by his father Anant who in turn, learned it from his father. As a teenager, Suhas would entertain his friends by embossing their names in calligraphy in both Marathi (his native language), and in English. Using any ordinary paper or even metal foil from cigarette boxes, he would emboss their names with just his fingernails, no other tools. Recently Suhas has received emails from one his fans back from Mumbai, who happens to residing in Philadelphia now. His friend emailed him, recalling that she and her sisters used to ask him to draw and write their names with his fingernails about 40 years ago. Today Suhas can write just about any name in any language from around the world, using just his fingernails.
Since graduating from the J.J. School of Arts in Bombay (Mumbai), and immigrating to the U.S. in 1977, Suhas focused more on his career as a graphic artist. He started his own Graphic Production Studio in mid-Manhattan in 1980, which he closed in 1988. In 1992, he joined Grey Worldwide and worked there as a successful graphic artist until retiring in May 2007. Since then, he has been dedicated to promoting his artwork full-time, something which was not possible for so many years.
Over the years, Suhas has gained many significant accomplishments. In 1992-93, he was chosen for an Individual Artist Showcase, where his embossings were displayed in the central public library in Queens. In 1995, he had given an embossing demonstration at the Kate's Paperie store in SoHo, New York. In April 1996, his embossings were on exhibition at the NY State Ballet gallery at Lincoln Center. Then in December 1997, his embossings were on exhibition at The Museum of Natural History, as part of a group show. In June 2007 Suhas had his solo exhibition in the Donnell Center, across from the MOMA, New York, where he gave live demonstration. In Dec 2007 his work was displayed in a group show in SOHO20/Chelsea gallery, New York. January 2008 Suhas received the “Curators’ Choice Award”, being the 1st place winner on barebrush.com. On March 3, 2008 Suhas was interviewed by ITV’s reporter, Rene Lobo on live TV, and spoke about his artwork and showed a variety of his “NakhaChitra” work. From March 12-27th, two of his selected NakhaChitra art pieces were displayed in “IAAC’s Erasing Borders 2008” group show at the Tabla Rasa Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. and also in April 3-26th at The Guild Gallery, Manhattan, NY. And on March 22, 2008 Suhas gave a slide presentation about his artwork, at the Queens Museum of Arts. Also on April 1, Suhas was on ITV’s live show, being interviewed by reporter Ambalika, with two other artists who were participating in the IAAC’s Erasing Borders 2008 group shows in New York. Also from May 11-June 11 his work was in the Brownson Art Gallery, in Westchester, NY. Presently Suhas’ work is showing at the Hammond Museum, North Salem, New York in the Erasing Borders 2008 show until
Sept. 5, 2008. From Oct 19 to Nov. 19, 2008, his work will be on exhibit once again, at the Queens Museum in the same Erasing Borders 2008 show.
Because of the nature of his career in advertising and raising a family of three children with his wife Alka, Suhas has never really gotten a chance to explore and promote his “NakhaChitra” art. Throughout his advertising career, Suhas has and continues to create numerous embossings for presentations in New York for many major advertising agencies using tools and fingernails. But his real wish is to show people, especially in the art world, that there is such a thing as “NakhaChitra” the art of fingernail embossing.
"NakhaChitra" is one of the World's rarest art forms (Nakha means fingernail and Chitra means art in Sanskrit language of the Hindus). Embossing by hand allows Suhas to produce the most intricate and truly unique embossed designs on paper or thin soft metal. Yet, as he says, his work is a "daunting, irksome and painful" fine art of Bas-Relief. Each fingernail embossing takes tremendous concentration and precise hand-eye coordination. But the beauty of the art is that each work is an original, a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork. With this technique, if a single line or impression fails to satisfy him, it cannot be undone; it is permanent. In other words, the whole piece has to begin anew.
Suhas would like to educate people about this unknown art form, which still exists even today. He thinks humans may have started this art form at the beginning of the human race through etchings on the soft wooden tree bark or on the large soft leaves using their fingernails as tools. Art and writing using one’s fingernails may have started a long time ago, with fingernail embossing perhaps beginning when humans began making paper. According to Suhas, this may have been a lost art form. He describes himself as a unique and gifted artist who can create fine sculptural art without using any artistic materials or tools, just his very own fingernails. There are billions of people in this world and there are millions of artists creating art using the same art materials, mediums, tools and very similar styles around the world for centuries, but these relief drawings are created just with God’s given fingernails as a basic tool to write and draw. With these natural tools that are literally at one's own fingertips, Suhas believes, “ Every living creature on earth is an artist and also a wonderful piece of art by itself...”
Quality is never an accident. It is always the Result of Intelligent Efforts. There must be a will to produce a Superior thing. by John Ruskin.
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