Indian-origin youth with dyslexia auctions off acclaimed artwork to raise funds for needy

Shrey Purohit, a US resident born in Mumbai, is among the youth artists who garnered the PleinAir Salon Art Competition’s prestigious best artist under 30 Award for his painting of San Francisco’s urban landscape. He recently auctioned and donated his award-winning 'Downtown Near the Van Gogh Exhibit' oil painting to a well-known and historic nonprofit named Coalition of Homelessness to raise funds for the homeless and needy residing in San Francisco.

Indian dyslexic boy Shrey Purohit's artwork auction raises $2500 for the needy

According to Mid-Day, the auction raised $65,000 with the help of 150 artists' artworks, out of which Shrey painting went in a bidding war up to $2500 to the highest bidder. it was also revealed that after being diagnosed with dyslexia, Purohit felt academics as a barrier, decided to explore the world of art and began with graffiti and typography. He moved from graphic design to studying as an illustrator and during the pandemic in 2020, he graduated from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco with a Bachelor in Fine Arts.

As Shrey Purohit observed galleries getting shut due to the pandemic, he decided to open one of his own instead of waiting for the right opportunity. “Seeing how galleries were closing down left right and center, instead of waiting for an opportunity I decided to start my own gallery [The Ingleside Gallery] to highlight my amazing friends and myself, as creators with a new hope," he stated, according to Mid-Day. 

The Ingleside Gallery shows and highlights the artwork of budding artists who do are unable to get the opportunity to showcase their work in commercialised galleries of downtown San Francisco. Through this approach, Shrey has managed to remove the barrier between artists and art lovers and has now over 500 artworks on display and has sold over 15,000$ worth of art in the first 3 months of the gallery opening. 

Purohit is best known for recreating the scenic beauty of San Francisco Bay and has bagged the ‘Downtown Near the Van Gogh Exhibit’ award in 2021 and two PleinAir Salon Art Competition awards one in 2020 for “800 Indiana St Nocturne." Opening up about what art means to him, he said, "Through my art practice, I keenly observe, survey and interpret my neighbourhood before creating paintings that will document the delicate plays of lights and shadows. My paintings are a means of conveying hope, that reflects the community and comfort around the neighbourhood," reported Mid-Day.

Image: Instagram/@shreypurohit