“A Day in the Life” of Calgary Visual Artist Amogh Katyayan

February 3, 2021 Admin Arts, Visual Arts

Amogh Katyayan is a visual artist based in Calgary, Alberta. Originally, he was born in the remote foothills of the Himalayas in India. As he had a very traditional Indian upbringing, his parents encouraged him to pursue a career in engineering, as it was a field with ample opportunity at the time. His career in engineering has given him the opportunity to travel to several countries. Eventually, he ended up in Calgary, Alberta where he has lived for nearly 19 years.

Amogh takes a fun and expressive approach to his art through his signature style. Often, he paints a colourful backdrop with vibrant acrylic paints. He then uses pastels to illustrate the figures he sees within the backdrop he painted. Amogh has also experimented in several other medias of art including resin pour painting, sculpture, and woodworking.

His work often focuses on themes that range in scale. His ‘Common Man’ series focuses on the value of everyday life whereas works like ‘New Democracy’ and ‘Consider Everyone’, focus on environmental issues and world politics.

Aside from creating art in his garage and working hard as an engineer, Amogh spends his time hanging out with his family, playing tennis, hiking, and listening to audiobooks.

Amogh Katyayan – When I am not working or painting, I am in mountains. Nature is the biggest Inspiration for creativity.
Amogh Katyayan – With my busy work in oil and gas industry, taking out time to complete an artwork becomes a challenge. Most of my work takes days or months to complete.
Amogh Katyayan – My paintings carry a message and tell a story.
I want to show the people that story can be written by the paint and can be heard by the eyes. I encourage to read the story behind or developed with the work. When you look into my work, you will see the story falling into place. With my work you are also create your own story!
Before COVID exhibition in Calgary
Intro-inspection is a story of a man sitting in jail cell pondering about past, present and future. He is about to be released represented by storm door of his home on the right side. On the left side he has his dark past. This past was also influenced by evil sprits lurking on the top left corner. If you see carefully, you will be able to spot those demons. Now he has come away from his past and looking forward to bright future on the right. He still need to be careful as there are still some bad people lurking in his future life represented by eyes on bottom right corner.
‘The Pitbull is a notorious animal. There is a reason for that too. We often see the result of how people train their Pitbulls. The dog will become what its owner wants to be. This painting is trying to depict the Pitbull as a nice dog and trying to change the image of this beautiful animal. The pink color in the background and pastel colours are used to depict friendly nature of this animal.
The painting is inspiration from my trip to New Orleans. The vast culture and history from Civil War to Bourbon street is depicted in abstract form on the canvas. The Mississippi river flows from top right corner to lower left corner. Civil War is depicted on the right side of the painting where brother is killing a brother! The war is shown in ocher red color. Order side of the Mississippi river shows current fun loving New Orleans where music is being played, street drummers are performing! There are several other New Orleans features in the paining which you can pin point easily.
Exhibition in Dallas in 2019, good old days before COVID!!
This painting is part of series ‘Our Hero’, which describes day-to-day life of a common man.
Our hero in this painting is rising through the ranks in a corporate ladder. Or do you see a happy child simply swinging on a tree branch? Your perspective matters!
This painting is part of series ‘Our Hero’, which describes day-to-day life of a common man. Here he is pondering about the environmental issues affecting sea life.
Working on wild and pet animals. The Magnificent one is one of them.

Which ‘hood are you in?

I live in Aspenwoods; relatively close to downtown where I work and closer to mountains where my inspiration lives!

What do you do?

I am an engineer by profession and work in oil and gas industry. Creating art is my meditation and gives me peace and calmness.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on “Common Man” series. The main subject in each piece ,“Our Hero”, depicts the daily life of a person in different scenarios. Some of the paintings represent everyday tasks like running or dog walking. Others show the more adventurous side such as his “Cliffhanger” or “Ropewalker” pieces, while others show the challenges and pressures in as seen in his “Rising Corporate Ladder” painting. I took a break from this series for few months to create ‘Animals’ series. I think I will continue both of the series for sometime.

Most of my work can be found at www.amogh.art and on instagram at @amogh_art

Where can we find your work?

I currently use instagram as my art sharing platform @amogh_art.

 

 

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