For most toddlers, prime real estate on the family fridge is the height of artistic exhibition for their hand-painted masterpieces. Not so for Advait Kolarkar.

The four-year-old painter splashed onto the Saint John, N.B. art scene shortly after his family arrived from Pune, India. His vibrant abstract pieces fetched about $500 in his hometown when he was just two years old. Now, his paintings inspired by galaxies and dinosaurs are selling for up to $2,000 at his own exhibit at the Saint John Arts Centre.

“Every stroke, every layer is his feelings, his expression,” Advait's mother, Shruti, told CTV Atlantic on Wednesday. “He is glad that people can take some part of his imagination to their home.”

Advait’s 30-painting exhibition is aptly titled “Colour Blizzard.” It opened last Friday and will run until March 3. The paintings are figuratively flying off the wall, with 24 of them already sold.

With titles like “Supernova” and “Jellyfish,” each canvas is a wash of well-composed colour, thickly layered by hand and brush. According to Shruti, her son’s work is completely spontaneous. Nobody instructs him or influences what he paints.

Shortly after moving to Saint John, Shruti approached the city’s cultural affairs officer about displaying some of Advait’s work at a local library. Bernard Cormier quickly realized the paintings belonged in a more prestigious setting. He believes Advait could be the youngest Canadian to have his own exhibition.

“I’ve never seen someone that age dabble with the paint in the way that he does,” he told CTV Atlantic last July. “I’ve been exposed to artwork all my life and I see something special in this young boy, so why not encourage him?”

Helen Bridgeo will soon have five of Advait’s paintings in her home.

“When I looked at his work, it made me feel joyful,” she said. “It made me feel happy.”

Advait’s art is set to be featured at one of the largest trade shows in New York in April, an honour many artists wait a lifetime to experience.

For now, Advait is mostly content to let his work speak for itself. Sitting on a paint-spattered drop cloth spread on the floor in front of several of his finished canvasses, he bellowed simply, “I love painting!”

With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Mary Cranston

Jellyfish: A fascination with oceans and aquatic life has gotten Advait to create its vivacious force through colors. Jellyfish is one of Advait's first sold painting ��������

Posted by Advait Kolarkar on Wednesday, December 27, 2017
 

Supernova An exploding star which becomes brightest before the final catastrophe, where it ejects most of the mass,...

Posted by Advait Kolarkar on Saturday, December 23, 2017