In a career spanning 50 years, A. Ramachandran has exhibited in the most reputed galleries and museums around the world. He is, however, only now going to make his debut in his native state, Kerala.

In August 2013, Lalithkala Academy Kochi hosts the first solo exhibition of the world-renowned painter and sculptor. The scope of the exhibition is going to be that of a minor retrospective.

The 15-day exhibition is held at the vintage Durbar Hall Gallery in downtown Ernakulam till 25 August and is being organized by Delhi- and London-based Vadehra Art Gallery. The exhibition showcases more than 100 works and will give the audience in Kerala a broad overview of the different genres in which Ramachandran has worked over the past five decades.

Curated by well-known art historian R Siva Kumar, the exhibition features 48 of Ramachandran’s paintings, 38 watercolours, ten etchings and four sculptures. “The earliest of these works dates back to 1964 and traces the evolution of Ramachandran’s thought and practice over the decades,” said Arun Vadehra, director of Vadehra Art Gallery. This exhibition is part of a series of exhibitions being held to commemorate 25 years since the gallery’s inception.

Talking to the press in New Delhi, Ramachandran expressed his delight in being able to showcase his works in Kerala. He had moved to Santiniketan in West Bengal in 1957 to pursue the study of art under stalwarts like Ramkinkar Baij, Nandalal Bose and Benodebehari Mukherjee. His creativity bears rich shades of exposure to varied cultures of India and the rest of the world.

Ramachandran, who was born in 1935 in Attingal, Thiruvananthapuram, had a second tryst with Kerala when he was appointed chairman of the Lalithalala Akademi, Thiruvananthapuram. Yet, his works have never been exhibited in his home state.

The artist, who has been living in Delhi since 1964, taught art at Jamia Millia Islamia for 27 years before taking voluntary retirement. In 2002, he was elected a Fellow at the Central Lalit Kala Akademi. He has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and the Raja Ravi Varma Puruskaram by the Government of Kerala.

Speaking about his works the 78-year-old artist recalled, “My early paintings were an angry young man’s anxious and emotional response to human suffering.” Over the decades, his style underwent tremendous changes — more so from the 1970s which also saw a diversification of his interests and activities.

Ramachandran’s famed and monumental mural-sized Yayati done in the mid-1980s ended his engagement with darker side of human predicament. His more recent paintings portray a celebratory pageant of sensuous beauty, according to Prof Siva Kumar, also a Malayali, currently the professor of art history at Kala Bhavan in Visva-Bharati University.

Leading art conservator and writer Rupika Chawla noted that Ramachandran always integrated himself with Indian tradition and environment, deriving faith and nourishment from his roots. “For him, as a prolific reader, western precepts and art history have relevance only when redefined for a specific purpose or analogy,” she added.

Vadehra Art Gallery will also be organising a major exhibition of the complete works of Ramachandran next year on the occasion of his 50th year in the capital.

Image: © A. Ramachandran, Vadehra Art Gallery