Viren Tanwar, who was born in Hissar in 1952, completed his studies at the Government College of Art in Chandigarh, where he obtained a diploma in painting. He then went on to study at the Slade School of Art in London with funding from the British Council. Before deciding to paint full-time, he taught art at a fashion design university and took on other tasks and employment. His picture features elements of today’s life, such as harshness and joys, complexity and naivete, in a style depiction that plays with shape, colour, and light and shade. His vividly coloured canvases also have an air of commitment to them. The hashiya, or borders, of Viren’s paintings bear impressions of Ajanta murals and Pahari miniatures in addition to recollections of his rural Haryanavi upbringing, when his family practiced fabric dying and printing processes known as Lahariyas and Bandhej.