About

Mahaveer Swami was born in 1959 in Bikaner in the State of Rajasthan in India. He is descended from a family of Traditional Bikaner Painters known more commonly as the Indian Miniature Painting Tradition specifically in the Bikaner School. As a child he began training with his father M.R. Swami and grandfather M.D. Swami and later he studied under late Vedpal Sharma “Bannu” in Jaipur. He later completed a Diploma in Painting & Clay Modeling from Rajasthan School of Art in Jaipur.

Mahaveer Swami revived the best aspects of the sophisticated and refined Bikaner School of Painting with an originality and brilliance unique among contemporary miniaturists. Mahaveer Swami stands out of thousands of traditional painters not only because of his great skills in drawing and painting but also because he has an ability to recognize the difference between the truly fine and mundane. Although he possesses the skill to copy any other painting perfectly, he prefers to explore new subjects, new contexts and new forms of expressions. For instance, he has created a series of paintings based on the daily life of Indian women, a theme rarely explored by earlier miniature painters.

Mahaveer's working style is strongly in uenced by his studies of Mughal and Rajasthani Miniatures. His subject matters are often drawn from Indian Mythology, the lifestyle of holy men and women, daily life of Indian women and other indigenous thematic subjects.

Mahaveer Swami’s paintings of ascetics and mystics are particularly striking because of his deep feelings for the spiritual and the emotional. As a child, the various holy men who visited his grandfather fascinated him. Unaware that there were any differences between Sufis and Pundits he met at home, the young Mahaveer was drawn to them all, enchanted by which he describes as the glow on their faces. As a mature artist he still travels to annual festivals in Ajmer and other places to study the faces of participants and observe the various situations.

Presently, Mahaveer Swami is one of the finest traditional artists working in India today. His ethereal colors and exquisite brushwork are combined with unique inner vision and great sensitivity of the world around him by refining his personal vision with the finely tuned technique and rigorous discipline of his practice. Mahaveer Swami proves that there is no real gap between the contemporary and the traditional as there is only art. His work demonstrates beyond a doubt that the rich and beautiful tradition of the Bikaner School is still very much alive.

Swami has received around 15 major awards for the creation of masterpieces and unparalleled contribution in the field of the art, including the 'Master Craftsman Award' which is a National Award by the Government of India and the 'Kalavid', the highest award of by the Lalit Kala Academy in Rajasthan.

Since 1986, Mahaveer has exhibited in over 60 galleries in major cities of India like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi, and internationally in Algeria, Australia, Thailand, Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, Jerusalem, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, the U.S.A. and Spain. He has participated in many art workshops, camps and festivals in India at over 15 locations, along with this he has conducted globally the demonstrations and training programs.

Swami’s paintings are in the collection of hundreds of museums (like Museum of Sacred Art, Belgium), galleries and private collections in India and globally. His artworks have appeared in a number of reputed books, magazines and online publications.

Mahaveer Swami is currently living in his native city of Bikaner and he continuously practices the art in his studio which is in a building structure which is approximately 300 years old. Mahaveer Swami is an active contributor to Bikaner’s artistic and cultural activities and continues to hold a distinguished place within the city’s cultural and artistic community.

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