Happy Birthday to Artist Pratiksha Apurv

Pratiksha Apurv is a renowned Indian Painter who has won the national award given by the Lalit Kala Akademi. Let us wish her a very Happy Birthday.

Pratiksha Apurv was born on 26 February 1964 in Madhya Pradesh, India. She is the niece of Osho, an Indian Godman and Mystic. Pratiksha’s father Vijay Bharti is Osho’s younger brother. Pratiksha took sannyasa at the age of 11 and attended the Osho ashram in Pune. (Sannyasa refers to a stage in a person’s life, or spiritual development, in which one renounces material possessions to concentrate purely on spiritual matters.)

In 1982, she moved to Rajneeshpuram, Oregon in the United States and stayed with her uncle. In 1987 Apurv launched the Oshonik label clothing brand and designed clothes for many famous personalities. In 2003 she retired from dress design and taught herself to paint.

Her first solo show was attended by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The second series of Spiritual Odyssey exhibitions was praised by critics. In March 2010, her exhibition at L&P Hutheesing Visual Art Centre was attended by Narendra Modi who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat. In 2010, her painting, ‘Whirling’ was used for the cover of the book Introducing New Age Islam, released during the UN Human Rights meeting in Geneva.

Her paintings are full of religious imagery, spiritual icons, and abstract symbols. She describes her work as an ongoing rendering of her spiritual journey. She won the National Award 2015-16 for her painting titled Cosmic Balance.  

–Staff Reporter