Suhas Tavkar

The art of Suhas Tavkar shows a unique relationship between the human form and the human touch that created it...

Suhas Tavkar was born in 1942 and raised in Mumbai, (Bombay) India. He was taught the art of fingernail embossing (fingernail sculpted art) as a child, at the age of 4 by his father Anant who in turn, learned it from his father and mother. As a teenager, Suhas would entertain his friends by embossing their names in calligraphy in both Marathi (his native language), and in English. Using any ordinary paper or even metal foil from cigarette boxes, he would emboss their names with just his fingernails, no other tools. In early 2008 Suhas received emails from one his fans back from Mumbai, who happens to be residing in Philadelphia now. His friend recalled how, almost 48 years ago, she and her sisters would ask Suhas to draw and write their names with his fingernails. Today Suhas can write sculptural embossings of just about any name, in any language from around the world, using just his fingernails.

Since graduating from the J.J. School of Arts in Bombay (Mumbai), and immigrating to the U.S. in 1977, Suhas focused more on his career as a graphic artist. He started his own Graphic Production Studio in mid-Manhattan in 1980, which he later closed in 1988. In 1992, he joined Grey Worldwide and worked there as a successful graphic artist until May 2007. Since then, he has been dedicated to promoting his NakhaChitra artwork on a full-time basis, something which was not possible for so many years.

Over the years, Suhas has gained many significant accomplishments. In 1992-93, he was chosen for an Individual Artist Showcase, where his embossings were displayed in the Central Public Library in Queens. In 1995, he had given an embossing demonstration at the Kate's Paperie store in SoHo, New York. In April 1996, his embossings were on exhibition at the NY State Ballet gallery at Lincoln Center. Then in December 1997, his embossings were on exhibition at The Museum of Natural History, as part of a group show. In June 2007, Suhas had a solo exhibition in the Donnell Center, across from the MOMA, New York, where he gave live demonstration. In Dec 2007, his work was displayed in a group show in SOHO20/Chelsea gallery, New York. January 2008, Suhas received the "Curators' Choice Award", being the 1st place winner on barebrush.com. On March 3, 2008, Suhas was interviewed by ITV's reporter, Rene Lobo on live TV, and spoke about his artwork and showcased a variety of his "NakhaChitra" work. From March 12-27th, two of his selected NakhaChitra art pieces were displayed in "IAAC's Erasing Borders 2008" group show at the Tabla Rasa Gallery, Brooklyn, N.Y. and also in April 3-26th at The Guild Gallery, Manhattan, NY. On March 22, 2008, Suhas gave a slideshow presentation about his artwork, at the Queens Museum of Arts. Also on April 1, Suhas was on ITV's live show, interviewed by reporter Ambalika, along with two other artists who were participating in the IAAC's Erasing Borders 2008 group shows in New York. Also from May 11-June 11 his work was featured in the Brownson Art Gallery, in Westchester, NY. Suhas' work was also at the Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY, in the Erasing Borders show. From Oct 19 to Nov. 19, 2008, his relief drawings were once again displayed at the Queens Museum of Arts, Queens, NY in the same Erasing Borders 2008 show.

In the January 2009 Suhas was again on ITV's Rene Lobo show. Then in May and June 2009, Suhas was featured on Ethael Chen's show on QPTV Ch 56. It was broadcasted 4 times in Queens.

Beginning November 2009, Suhas started teaching workshops geared towards young kids and adults in the Manhattan, Bronx and Queens public libraries. Then an article on NakhaChitra - fingernail sculpted relief art, was published in "Bound&Lettered" magazine’s North Carolina edition and also in the summer issue 2009 of American Artist "Drawing" magazine.

Throughout his advertising career, Suhas has create numerous embossings for presentations in New York for various major advertising agencies using tools and fingernails. He still continues to do so. But his real wish is to show people, especially in the art world, that there is such a thing as "NakhaChitra", the art of fingernail sculpted relief art.

"NakhaChitra" is one of the World's rarest art forms (Nakha means fingernail, Chitra means art and Nakhachitrakar means fingernail artist in Sanskrit language of the Hindus). Embossing by hand allows Suhas to produce the most intricate and truly unique embossed designs on paper or thin soft metal. Yet, as he says, his work is a "daunting, irksome and painful" fine art of Bas-Relief. Each fingernail embossing takes tremendous concentration and precise hand-eye coordination. But the beauty of the art is that each work is an original, a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork. With this technique, if a single line or impression fails to satisfy him, it cannot be undone; it is permanent. In other words, the whole piece has to begin anew.

Suhas would like to educate people about this unknown art form, which still exists even today. He believes that humans may have started this art form at the beginning of the human race, through etchings on a soft wooden tree bark or on large soft leaves, using their fingernails as tools. Art and writing, using one’s fingernails, may have started a long time ago, perhaps when humans began making paper. According to Suhas, this may have been a lost art form. He describes himself as a unique and gifted artist who can create fine sculptural art without using any artistic materials or tools, just his very own fingernails. There are billions of people in this world and there are millions of artists creating art using the same art materials, mediums, tools and very similar styles around the world for centuries. But these relief drawings are created just with God-given fingernails as a basic tool to write and draw. With these natural tools that are literally at one's own fingertips, Suhas believes, "Every living creature on planet earth is an artist and also a wonderful piece of art"