Four-year-old painter hailed as art prodigy

Canadian-Indian Advait Kolarkar's paintings have been sold for thousands of dollars

Canadian-Indian Advait Kolarkar is being called an art prodigy--and he's only four years old.

Advait is featured in a BBC video in his studio, squeezing paint onto canvases and expertly mixing patterns into brightly coloured paintings.

According to his mother, "Advait was nine months old when he first picked up the brush. It was like magic for us and we couldn't believe he was creating those compositions".

Advait's parents, Shruti and Amit Kolarkar were amazed when they learned of their son's talent. Two of his abstract works hang behind them as they are interviewed by BBC News.



His mother reveals he was skilled from the start. "He had a direction, he had an intention and he knows exactly where he wants to go and leads himself to the result."

A home video, given to BBC by the Kolarkars, reveals Advait painting as a toddler with the same concentration and skill.

The Kolarkar family migrated from India to New Brunswick, Canada in 2016.  Advait has already held three exhibitions where his paintings were sold for thousands of dollars.

Helen Bridgeo, an artist herself, has bought nine of his paintings. She says, "To be perfectly honest it was my first art show. I remember walking through the door and walking into the exhibit room and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The colours...they were just beautiful and they caught my attention."

Bridgeo argues that Advait is really a talented artist, even though he might not appear skilled to the untrained eye. "You know if you're not familiar with abstract painting, some people come in and think that anybody could throw paint on a canvas. But if they understood colours and textures, they would understand that this is more than just paint on a canvas."



Sandra Altwerger is an abstract artist and former instructor at OCAD University. She spoke to the BBC in her studio, saying, "Most children will just see a few colours and mush them together and make a great mess hence finger painting. This is different. This child is planning, very engrossed in what he's doing and that's unusual."

She is, however, uncertain about sustaining his art career in the future. "You never know what's going to happen.  Easily I've seen many, many very talented young people lose interest...or they get into the art world and are exhibiting and they don't want to do it anymore. So you can never tell."

His mother and father hope to support him and his art career, if he's happy. "If he's very comfortable with the normal schooling, and is still able to paint then we will continue”.

Advait's father hopes to sustain his creative son's art career. "It's completely his creation. It's coming out of his imagination and we want to keep that going forever."

This article originally appeared on BBC News.