Veer Munshi – (B. 1974), Qualification • B A from Kashmir University in 1976 • BFA (Painting) from M.S. University Baroda in 1981 Veer Munshi, was born and brought up in Kashmir Valley. He is one of the few painters in India today who is able to transform his experiences as an exiled refugee into the language of painting. Munshi was was forced to move to Delhi in 1990 when it was no longer safe for him to stay there. For Munshi, viewing pleasure plays no role in his objective as an artist. His work is very personal and at most times disturbing. It is his reaction to a specific event – in this case, the ongoing political situation in his home, Kashmir – and he wants everyone who views his work to understand what is happening there. In Veer Munshi’s paintings we see a reflection of the anguish and fear he felt whilst living in his own home, a fear that plagued so many other Kashmiris as well. Kind of Work His work has been inspired not only from the political and social situation in India but also his own real life experiences. He has the ability to transform real life experiences into the language of paintings. Veer Munshi is the quintessential artist – brooding, thinking and conceptualizing to create a new every time he touches his brush to canvas. The perspective is global yet the rooted-ness pan Indian – he carries the wistful beauty of Kashmir in his mind’s canvas along with the polished perfection of the Baroda School to immortalise all that he chooses to paint. Veer Munshi’s canvases present images which are intriguing. The power of Munshi’s realistic approach is magnified by his ability to convey mood through composition and corresponding use of colour. The artist also manages to manipulate the colour he uses to suit the message of his paintings. Shades of red, orange and lush geen, otherwise warm and inviting, are given harsh and dark roles. His purples are potent and the shades of brown always cloak and muddy everything.