Jaideep Mehrotra
Born	Mumbai, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Mayo College, Ajmer
Known for	Painting, Sculpture

Jaideep Mehrotra (born 1954) is an Indian contemporary artist based in Mumbai, India. He started his artistic career with a solo exhibition at the young age of 13 in 1967.^[1] Despite having no formal training in art, Mehrotra managed a parallel career of business and painting up until 1983,^[2] when he embraced painting as his solitary profession.

Having been a part of the art world for over four decades, Mehrotra has worked with a profusion of mediums. His works steer away from conforming to the orthodox approaches. His inventive works are both rich in visual portrayal and intense in intellectual ideology, sometimes including socio-political commentary.

He has served as a judge, panelist, jury member on various awards,^[3] competitions and various art events. He has also had work sold at various auctions over the years, including Bonhams, Osian's^[4][5] and Saffronart.^[6]

Early life and education

Mehrotra was born in Mumbai, India. He did his early schooling at St. Mary's, Mumbai and then at Mayo College, Ajmer after which he pursued business studies from the University of Mumbai.

Works

Pioneer of the digital medium as an art form in India,^[7] Mehrotra has continually pushed the conceptual thresholds of his visual language to integrate different elements in his works – the historical with the contemporary, the traditional with the modern.

The creative quest of not confining to parameters, has driven him to experiment with different mediums and subjects, both within and without the two dimensional. This foray has led him to work with oils, acrylics, fabric, resin, the digital domain of installations, web based art, Giclée, audio-visual depiction and short films.^[8]

Influences

In his youth, Mehrotra was influenced by the surrealist movement and artists such as Salvador Dalí and Bikash Bhattacharjee

Accolades

• He was the first Indian artist to have his own web site, as well as the first Indian artist to have his own interactive CD-ROM^[8]
• One of 50 winners (out of 20,000 entries) in the International Digital Art Awards 2003 Exhibition, Australia^[35]
• Mehrotra was approached by a large diamond conglomerate to paint a portrait of Maharani Gayatri Devi. This turned out to be the last portrait of her painted before her death^[36]
• In January 2012, Mehrotra was listed as one of the artists whose works should be invested into, by Gulf News, one of the leading newspapers of the Middle East^[37]
• His work has been featured in and, in some cases on the covers of, top publications such as Elle Magazine, Reader's Digest, Hindustan Times, Verve, Times of India, etc.
• Was named one of the ‘Top Artists From Mumbai You Ought to Know’ by CultureTrip^[38]

Personal life

• He worked in various corporations in Bombay, Dubai and Africa, before returning to India to switch careers from a businessman to an artist^[39]
• Mehrotra married his wife Seema in 1989 and they have two daughters Anushka and Mallika.^[39]
• Mehrotra's interests in helping the underprivileged and the aged are well-known.^[40][41] His is also known to be environmentally conscious^[42] and a concerned citizen of Mumbai. He's helped numerous charitable causes over the years^{[43][44][45][46]}

External links

• Jaideep Mehrotra's web site
• Some Works by Jaideep Mehrotra
• Launch of CD-Rom
• THE IDEA #3
• Talk to Rotarians