Father and son exhibit together

DIVERSITY:  Whanganui High School student, Abishai (left) and Sharad Dohare have their work on display at Fine Arts Whanganui.
PICTURE / Paul Brooks

Father and son have teamed up for the latest exhibition at Fine Arts Whanganui.

Sharad Dohare and his 16-year-old son Abishai display their extraordinary talents in Diversity, exhibiting until October 19.

Sharad and his family moved to Whanganui from Waiuku two years ago. They had been here before and liked the place, especially the arts community. Cheaper housing had something to do with it too.

Abishai draws portraits in monochrome and recently won the Youth Recognition Award at the 2017 Belton Smith and Associates Ltd Whanganui Arts Review. He is a Year 12 student at Whanganui High School, where Graham Hall is his art teacher.

How did he get to be so good?

"Practice," he says. Practice and patience. His interest in drawing dates back to when he was three years old.

"The thing I like about drawing is the satisfaction of shading and colouring in the positive and negative space of an empty drawing, which, in the end, becomes a masterpiece of my own."

Abishai is looking at a career in art, with his next step being a Fine Arts degree. Sharad is a photographer and it was his idea to combine their talents in a joint exhibition.

"I used to do art," he says. "But I stopped when I picked up my camera." That was only four years ago. This is his first exhibition, but he recently won third place in the Monochrome category of the 2017 Sigma Amateur Photographer of the Year competition, and has picked up a few honours awards at the Wanganui Camera Club.

"I like capturing the beauty of nature and of beautiful places in the world to share with others. I add textures to my photographs to make it look more like a painting."

There is music and art in the Dohare family. Abishai plays drums for the Baptist Church, his mother used to sing in the choir and his sister plays guitar.

Diversity, the work of Sharad and Abishai is on display at Fine Arts Gallery, 17 Taupo Quay, until October 19.

By Paul Brooks
Wanganui Midweek 27/9/17