Zirak Marker believes that if you have a passion for something, if you crave it, you will find your way back to it in times of need. No matter how long it takes. Just like the child and adolescent psychiatrist and psychotherapist found his way to painting, after 25 years during the pandemic. With a palette knife and acrylic paints, he has created a body of 53 paintings that have caught the attention of the Van Gogh Art gallery. It has invited him to show at the international art festival in September at Luxembourg. At the time of this piece being written, 33 had been sold. In his words, his is “art that suggests reality”.

Falling Waters is showing at Kathiwada City House on April 22, and it’s interesting that Marker has not had formal training in art. “It was never encouraged,” he says, “in fact, it was actively discouraged.”