Kerala engineer hits jackpot selling his Ferrari F40 painting to Adani

A 30-year-old mechanical engineer from North Paravoor in Kerala, who captures beauty of sports and iconic cars on canvas, has hit a jackpot when Karan Gautam Adani, son of industrialist Gautam Adani and CEO of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, bought his painting of Ferrari F40 for an undisclosed amount.

Though Arjun C Mohan is a mechanical engineer by qualification, he has been pursuing his passion to draw sports cars on canvas for the last few years. It was in 2018 that Arjun started to seriously channelise his artistic skills to draw sports cars which he loved the most.

Arjun has completed several works in the last three years with each work taking months to finish. Arjun has not undergone any sort of formal training in painting or drawing except for the machine drawing classes which he attended during the engineering course.

“I loved drawing and painting right from my young days. When I started to draw machine parts as part of my engineering studies, I realised that I could channelise my passion for art by drawing cars which I love the most,” Arjun told “Open Digest”.

After completing the engineering course, Arjun decided to take a leap of faith and dedicate himself to his passion. His real breakthrough came when Karan Gautam Adani contacted him after seeing his works in social media. “I don’t know how he came to know about my work. He connected with me through mail and purchased my painting of a Ferrari F40,” Arjun said.

Arjun says that there is a niche group of people who love paintings of cars. “I  only draw sports and iconic cars. The buyers know the real value of such paintings and pay an appropriate amount,” Arjun added.

He says that he could draw intricate details of cars on canvas by applying his engineering knowledge. Karan, who himself is a car lover, bought one of Arjun’s works after recognising the brilliance of his creation.

“I’ve always been fascinated by cars. I derive pleasure by bringing them to life on canvas. I am preparing to conduct an exhibition of my works soon,” said Arjun who uses acrylic colours on canvas for his creative works. His attention to detail and precision in capturing the mechanics of the cars helped him mature as an artist.