Aurangabad zilla parishad teacher’s painting of Ajanta Caves wins prestigious Torso India award

AURANGABAD: A painting of Ajanta Caves made by Gajendra Aware, a primary teacher from the Aurangabad district, has won the top award at Torso India — an international platform of art competition and auction.
Aware, who is serving at a zilla parishad-run school at Sawarkheda-khurd village in Sillod taluka, spent more than three-and-a-half years making the award-winning painting.
“The Ajanta Caves have always fascinated me as an artist. While different ancient paintings at this heritage site had caste a spell on me since childhood, I decided to recreate some of them on my own. I started working on my first painting, which has won the accolades, in October 2017 and completed it by June 2020,” he said.
Made using oil paints, the painting became a reality on a canvas of 148 x 51 inch, figuring Gautam Buddha and Padmapani among other characters portrayed at Ajanta Caves.
“One of my friends saw my painting and told me to send it as an entry for Torso India. My work first got shortlisted in top 100 and later top 12, before being declared the top entry with a score of 17 out of 20,” Aware said.
The 40-year-old primary school teacher said he was hopeful of fetching an attractive price for his art-work in the international market.
“With my maiden painting completed, I am planning to start another painting. My dream is to recreate all the Ajanta paintings on canvas one by one,” he said.