AN UP-AND-COMING artist is brushing away his gloomy past with the launch of his new solo exhibition after a life changing trip to India.

AN UP-AND-COMING artist is brushing away his gloomy past with the launch of his new solo exhibition after a life changing trip to India.

Alan Osborne from East London is a recovering alcoholic who managed to turn his life around when he started painting in a rehab centre. 

The 62-year-old is determined to make his stamp on the art world with his new exhibition Made in India which ran from November 1 to November 8 at the Nehru Centre in Mayfair, London.

His big break came from his first exhibition Elysium in the Modern World which was a contemporary take on the ancient world of Greek mythology.

Whilst working for a publishing company which produced property management magazines Osborne got involved in a drinking habit which went too far.

He told Eastern Eye: “One of the reasons I lost my business, my wife and my kids 10 years ago was because of alcohol. The publishing industry is a seriously boozy industry and I got caught up in that.

“Unfortunately I had more problems with alcohol than a normal person would have had.”
But when Osborne went to residential house in Wiltshire to get himself in rehabilitation his hidden talent in art shone through.

He said: “When I started the art therapy groups there, people couldn’t believe that I had never done art before. I begun to love it. Everybody was encouraging me to continue this. “
After pursuing a national diploma in Art he gained a place in a Fine Art course at the University of East London and graduated earlier this year.

Since his rehabilitation, Osborne visited India four times and his last trip in 2007 was a visit which changed the rest of his life. He went to spend some time with fellow artist Jack Phillips who lived in Kerala in South west India.

He said:  “It was during my travels in Tamil Nadu in India that I experienced first hand a drunk man in a terrible state, lying on a pavement there.
“That was when the penny dropped and I realised how fortunate I was to be living in a country where people like me have access to more help than we know. This exhibition started with that realisation.”

The fact that the exhibition is showing at the Nehru Centre is something of a coup for Obsorne, as it has housed exhibitions by prominent Indian artists but clearly it has a message about being able to turn one’s life around and take inspiration from that and a different environment.

“I have a lot of Indians friend and had talked and made discussions about the idea behind my exhibition. I would ask them what it means to be an Indian person today,” said Osborne.
“I’m trying to reflect in playful and abstract way using colours and form to demonstrate how I feel about India.

“Art is something that is very emotive and this work is how I feel about India, it’s warm and playful.”

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