- Numbers to Nuance: Former banker channels years of observing customers’ faces into evocative art
- Family & Faith: “Banking paid the bills; painting fed the soul,” says artist on balancing duty and dream
- Legacy in Lines: Children inspired, now following his artistic footsteps
- Ahmedabad Showcase: ‘FaceSurface’ explores identity, memory and material beyond portraits
R MANICKAVASAGAM
AHMEDABAD, MAR 17
In a journey where bank counters gave way to canvas textures, banker-turned-artist Rajendra Kadia unveils his deeply introspective solo exhibition “FaceSurface: Painting as Process” at L & P Hutheesing Visual Art Centre, running from Tuesday to Sunday -March 17 to 22.
The exhibition captures Kadia’s unique evolution—from a life of financial precision to one of intuitive artistic expression, where the human face becomes a site of memory, movement and meaning.
“A father paints, a family follows—where legacy is not inherited, but inspired.” – NE photo
“I read faces before i painted them”
“For years in the bank, I closely observed my customers—their expressions, anxieties, hopes. Every face carried a story. Without realising it then, I was already studying form, emotion and character. Today, those observations find their way onto my canvas,” says Kadia, reflecting on how everyday interactions shaped his artistic lens.
“Banking supported my family, art completed me”
“I was banking on a regular income to support my family—that was my responsibility. Art came alongside, quietly but persistently. While banking ensured stability, painting became my space of freedom and self-discovery,” he notes, underlining the dual life he led for years.
A legacy that lives on
“What brings me immense joy today is that my children have taken to art as well. They have seen my journey—from discipline to expression—and are now exploring their own creative paths,” Kadia adds, highlighting how passion has flowed seamlessly into the next generation.
Faces beyond identity
The works in FaceSurface move beyond traditional portraiture. Through layered textures, intuitive strokes and evolving forms, Kadia treats the face not as a likeness but as a surface of transformation—where memory, gesture and abstraction intersect.
His use of terracotta soras—traditional circular earthen forms—adds a tactile, cultural dimension. These surfaces become symbols of continuity and cycles, grounding contemporary expression in heritage materiality.
Painting as process, not product
The exhibition foregrounds the act of creation itself. Lines emerge, overlap and dissolve; textures breathe; forms shift between figuration and abstraction—inviting viewers to witness painting as an ongoing dialogue between hand, material and imagination.
Open daily from 4 pm to 8 pm until Sunday, March 22, the show offers art lovers a chance to experience painting as a living, evolving journey rather than a finished image.
