Custom Artwork for SALUTE Summit in New York City

This blog was originally published on my old website on 10/10/2023

On October 5th , I attended the SALUTE Summit in New York City. This trip to NYC was special because I got to create something for the Summit.

Custom Painting for SALUTE Summit by Lakshmi Sarkar showing South Asian women walking in front of Bath Studios with New York City Skyline

When the founders of SALUTE approached me to create a custom painting for the Summit , I was excited because the painting represents what the Summit stands for.

The painting brief was to create something with the New York City Skyline , the Bathhouse Studios in the background with a group of women - diverse South Asian women - moving forward and leading the way.

Custom painting in progress for SALUTE Summit with Bath House Studios in the background

Originally, I was going to paint live at the venue . But after discussing the logistics , it made more sense for me to paint it in the studio and have it displayed at the venue.

I was given full creative freedom based on the brief . It really does bring the best out of me .

Work in progress for custom painting for SALUTE summit in New York in October 2023

I used acrylic paints on canvas. I started painting the Bathhouse Studios first . I wanted it to be in the center of the canvas and have the skyline in the background - and have the women painted in the front of the Bathhouse Studios.

As with any painting , I worked and reworked the color palette and placement of the buildings in the skyline , so it wouldn’t take the focus away from the women.

Once I painted it , I varnished it and it was ready for the summit.

It’s been a while since I was in NYC for work / fashion week . I drove to NYC with my 24 x 30 finished canvas the morning of the summit and attended it in the afternoon. While I love painting at events, I’m really glad I got to attend this one without painting live. I got to fully immerse myself in the summit and listen to the amazing talks from the various women on the panels.

The conversations centered around leadership , finance and investing . It woke up the dormant side of my brain , because I think very differently about finance.

Thinking and creating a vision artistically is very different from how one thinks about finance and investing in businesses and other people’s business ideas . I left the summit feeling very inspired and energized. It was a wonderful experience meeting other attendees and making some new friends and exploring a different thought process.

This was their first summit and I look forward to attending more in the future.

Connect and learn more about SALUTE and their mission .