When life moves, how does an artist carry her sense of home
Salony Garg’s journey into painting didn’t begin with a grand plan. It grew slowly, shaped by years of sketching as a child and a single afternoon of painting outdoors with friends that shifted something in her thinking. In this interview, she talks about what pushed her to leave a stable job in cartooning and design to study fine art, and how that choice opened up new ways of seeing colour, light and the stories she wanted to bring into her work.
She shares how themes like family, belonging and quiet spaces have stayed with her through different moves and stages of life. Studying and living in new places made her look at the idea of home in a different way, and those thoughts continue to guide many of her compositions. Salony also describes her process in detail, explaining how she plans her pieces but still leaves room for surprises once she begins painting. Those small, unplanned moments often help her find the mood she has been searching for.
We also talk about the recognition she has received in recent years, including awards and the unusual experience of having two of her paintings selected for the Lunar Codex project, which will send cultural work to the moon. She explains what it feels like to be part of something so lasting and how she stays steady in her approach despite new attention.
The conversation touches on the painters who shaped her early on and the contemporary artists who keep her curious today. Through her stories and thoughts, we gain a clearer sense of how her ideas form, what she pays attention to when she paints and how she continues to grow without losing sight of what matters to her.
Salony Garg (b. 1992) is a contemporary Indian painter. At 25, she worked as a cartoonist and graphic designer in India, but was inspired to pursue fine art professionally after painting with friends. In 2019, seeking to create more representative work, Salony studied at the Samsara Academy of Art and later graduated from the Barcelona Academy of Art. She was recently awarded a Special Mention in the 4th Toolip Art Contest and the Gold Prize by the Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation in 2025. She also received First Prize in the Still Life category from Terra Verna Gallery (California) and the Bold Brush Award 2024. Her work has been exhibited at the prestigious Salmagundi Club (New York) and Oxo Gallery (Derwent Art Prize, London). The Art Renewal Centre selected her paintings, The Power of Self-Acceptance and Anandee, to be included in the Lunar Codex cultural time capsule project, to be sent to the Moon. Her work was also featured in the book 100 Emerging Artists of 2025.
1. You started as a cartoonist and graphic designer before moving toward fine art. What made you take that leap, and how did it change the way you think about creating?
I can’t remember a time when drawing wasn’t part of my life. As a child, I would spend long afternoons hunched over paper, wholly absorbed in my own little worlds. While other children were running around outside, I was sketching faces, figures, anything that caught my imagination. Back then, I thought of art as something I loved, but not something I could live by. It felt like a dream too far away. That changed one afternoon when I went painting outdoors with a few friends.
It was a casual plan, but it turned into something far more critical. We met other artists along the way, people who spoke about painting with a kind of reverence I had never heard before. They showed me how a single image could hold entire stories full of emotion, memory, and meaning. It was as if a door opened in my mind. I also took a painting workshop during that time, and I realised I didn’t just want to make beautiful pictures. I wanted to create art that spoke, art that could carry feelings and experiences beyond the limits of words. So I chose to quit my job and study further so to I could one day paint what I want.
Moving between places and cultures made me more aware of what home really means. It is not just a physical space, but a feeling or connection.
Salony Garg
2. Two of your paintings are literally going to the moon as part of the Lunar Codex project — that’s incredible. What goes through your mind knowing your work will be part of something so lasting?
It’s honestly surreal to think about! The idea that my paintings will be part of something so enduring, literally beyond Earth, feels both humbling and inspiring. As artists, we often paint from deeply personal places, so to know that those emotions and stories will find a home on the moon is truly incredible. It reminds me how art can transcend time and space in ways we never imagined.
3. Themes of family, belonging, and quiet spaces come through strongly in your paintings. How much of that comes from your own sense of home and identity, especially after studying and living in different places?
Those themes definitely come from personal experience. I’m very attached to my siblings. Moving between places and cultures made me more aware of what “home” really means. It is not just as a physical space, but as a feeling or connection. Painting became a way to process that sense of in-betweenness, of belonging yet constantly shifting. The quiet spaces and family moments in my work is my way of holding onto fragments of memory, warmth, and familiarity wherever I am.
4. You’ve described your process as sculptural, where forms seem to grow out of abstraction. What does that look like when you’re actually working — do you plan things out or let them unfold on the canvas?
I usually plan my compositions carefully, thinking through the colour notes, lighting, and overall mood before I begin. But once I start painting, I also allow space for spontaneity. I start using bigger brushes more loosely and let my brush wander at times, allowing accidents to happen, because those moments often bring unexpected beauty or a shift in tone that suddenly brings the feeling I was searching for. So while the structure is intentional, the emotion usually reveals itself through those unexpected moments on the canvas.
I realised I didn’t just want to make beautiful pictures. I wanted to make art that could carry feelings and experiences beyond the limits of words.
Salony Garg
5. Winning awards like the Gold Prize from the Prafulla Dahanukar Foundation and the Bold Brush Award has brought your work to a broader audience. Has that kind of recognition changed how you approach your career or choose what to paint next?
This kind of recognition hasn’t really changed the way I approach my career. Painting, for me, is still a very personal space, something I do for myself and for nature. It’s where I can genuinely be myself, where I connect with what’s within. When I paint something like The Blue Within, it comes from that feeling of calmness, like being in still water, completely present. And when I paint among wildflowers, I’m expressing another side of myself: a woman who is strong and independent, yet still human, still longing to share her emotions in a world that can often feel harsh and unreal. So I still make work based on what I am feeling at a particular moment. For me, painting is not a fixed point. It’s a continuous journey of discovery, deconstruction, and transformation. Every painting is a step further along that path, a chance to learn something new, to push a boundary, or to return to something timeless. This spirit of exploration guides what I choose to paint next. I don’t want to repeat what has already brought me recognition. I want to keep experimenting, to keep evolving, and to let each painting lead me somewhere unexpected.
6. You’ve spoken about being inspired by artists like Monet, Sorolla, and Degas. Are there any painters or traditions today that keep you curious or influence what you want to explore next?
Yes, many contemporary painters continue to inspire me, artists like Antonio López García, Molly Judd, Alex Kanevsky, and many more. Their work makes me curious the way they play so finely with texture, light, and composition. I find it fascinating how each of them pushes those boundaries in their own way. It encourages me to think differently and to try new approaches in my own paintings.
Salony Garg’s work circles around ideas of identity, memory and belonging, shaped by the places she has lived and the people who matter to her. Through her stories, we learn how she builds images that hold quiet moments, how colour became a language she grew into over time, and how studying in different environments helped her understand what she wants to say through painting.
Her journey shows how unexpected turning points can shift a life, and how steady dedication can shape a path that feels true to who she is. Speaking about her process, her influences and the recognition she has received, she gives us a genuine look at what keeps her motivated and curious as she moves forward.
To learn more about Salony, click the following links to visit her profile.
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