Think and draw -Aishwarya Upadhye,THE HINDU

Newspapers, tortilla chips and a mosquito repellent are turned into a bird, a range of mountains and a fish in the hands of artist Suryadev Dasari.

In his first exhibition, titled ‘Think’ at the Visakha Museum, Suryadev has showcased 53 of his works. There are single-line drawings, shadow drawings, doodles and a lot more. .

“ My love for reading and researching helped me discover various art styles ,” says the self-taught artist. His artwork is a combination of spontaneous ideas which draw heavily from his surroundings. “Art is my way of giving mundane objects a new perspective,” he says.

A digital marketer by profession, Suryadev was drawn to art only when he was a student at IIT-BHU, Varanasi. But it was only in 2018 he took it up seriously. “I wanted to do something more than just my day job and that is how I turned my attention to art,” he explains. Suryadev has over 365 artworks to his name. That is because he has challenged himself to create one art work every day.

“Most of the paintings are reflections of thoughts from the books I read or the music that I listen to,” he says. A mosaic of newspaper cutouts reads ‘Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision’. “The inspiration behind this painting is the quote by author Neil Gaiman in his book Make Good Art.”

Another art work which showcases two books labelled ‘lies’ and ‘truth’ draws inspiration from Copenhagen-based artist Johan Deckmann’s art installation which showcases ‘lies’ as a fat book next to a slim book titled ‘truth’.

.Suryadev posts his work on Facebook and Instagram through the handle ‘TheArtRover’.