Born in 1968 Viveek Sharma is an Indian artist from Mumbai He received his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Painting from the JJ school of Art in the year 1994 His journey began way before he joined JJ school of Art When he was in the 8th or 9th std he joined an art class with Mr Rajaram and he paid particular attention to charcoal This stress on charcoal as a medium continued through his days in JJ Some of the artists who have been a key influence on Sharma’s works are MF Husain, Salvador Dali and Gustav Klimt The subject of his works are varied and depend on the situation or subject that strikes a chord with him at any particular moment He uses photorealism as a technique as opposed to impressionism and expressionism For him, realism rejects the romanticism of the subject and that is what he yearns to do through his art, portray people and situation with accuracy He had his first ever solo exhibition in 1997 titled ‘Urban Legacies’ held at the Leela Art Gallery, Mumbai Some of his other solo exhibitions include ‘New Forms of Surrealistic Expression’ at Jehangir Art Gallery in 2006, ‘Acts of Faith’ Ville d’Amboise, by Louise Marx and Martine Le Coz, Amboise, France in 2016 and ‘Equilibrium’ Indian High Commission, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 2017 The artist currently lives and works in Mumbai