Best of both worlds

Rupesh Patric is one of the few lucky software engineers who balances his life quite happily between work, passion, family and charitable work.

The Bangalore-based software consultant has a passion for art and what he is most known for is his almost exclusive work in charcoal. His repertoire largely consists of figurative or semi-realistic works, and occasionally, abstract themes.

“I have loved sketching since childhood and I have been working with charcoal right from my college days. I like raising awareness about various issues by exhibiting my work commercially,” says the self-trained artist who likes charcoal for its rich blackness, its depth and tone.

“A lot of artists use it for rough drawing. But I use only charcoal, sometimes with graphite. Lately, I have also begun experimenting with colour,” he explains. He has started by using only one colour at a time.

“I'm currently using red (in acrylic) for one of my ongoing series, called ‘Lajja', though the main medium still remains charcoal. The series is woman-oriented; it will express a woman's elusiveness, her beauty and her mysteriousness.”

His portraits are both imaginary and inspired by real-life. “Every character I portray is based on a story. Then again, since I read a lot of books on art, and I attend exhibitions, my works may be inspired by them at some level. I may also be reacting to what's happening in the world through my art,” adds Patric, who admires the works of a whole range of artists including Salvadore Dali, Sachin Jaltare and Ajay De.

Works from his recent series will be printed on a calendar that will be used in support for Vimochana, a Bangalore-based NGO that works with women in distress.

He has been exhibiting his works in Bangalore for over seven years at various venues including the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Art Bengaluru and Sublime Art Galleria, since he began working with Microsoft.

Since 2009, he has been using his art to raise profits, largely through desktop calendars, for different NGOs including Dream A Dream, Sneha Nilaya and Asha Niketan, that work with various sections of society. He also channels most of his profits from exhibition sales to various causes.

His balancing mantra is simple: Work hard and work smart.

“I also try to maintain a priority list that helps me juggle between family, work, art and charity. Microsoft has been supportive from the beginning since I joined, so having good people around me always helps”. This includes buying the calendars for its employees.

Rupesh now plans on spending more time studying art history. “I never got the opportunity to realty learn art formally. On the other hand, I'm also passionate about technology. So I have not set any deadlines.” It's all about the art of balancing.

This column features those who choose to veer off the beaten track.