Son of the late master abstractionist, J. Swaminathan , S. Harshavardhana was born in 1958. He is not a painter by training – rather he is a self-taught artist. A bio-scientist by training, Harsha did masters in Bio-Science from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani (1980) with a combination diploma in Business Management. Though, for a large part of his life, he attempted to resist the artistic impulse – he held a senior management position with a pharmaceutical firm till 1993 – since 1993 he has been a “full- time practicing artist”.

In 1996 Harsha had the opportunity to take part in the Biennial at Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal . After his first solo show in 1997, he has had a number of solos and participated in a number of group shows as well. Within the span of a decade he has come to be recognized as an engaging abstractionist with a uniquely personal impulse. Besides the solo exhibitions mounted throughout India and in South East Asia, his group shows include, the First Biennale of Contemporary Art , Romania in 2005; Indian artists for France , New Delhi, Young Contemporary Artists , New Delhi (2004), 2D / 3D , Hong Kong, Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong (2003), shows in Chennai and Mumbai (2002); New Delhi (2001), and the much acclaimed, Post Modern Indian Art , USA (1997).

His works are regularly included in international auctions. Harsha's pastel's are actually a view of the world veiled by the gaze of the artist. This world is not an artificially created one. Rather, it is a world where the artist spreads his gaze and hopes that nature will put something into it on its own. Painting, he says, “…is not about representing the artist's vision of reality but about seeking the reality embedded in the latent image”.

S. Harshavardhana currently lives and works in Delhi .