One of India’s most distinguished and prolific artists, his art reverberates with the lyricism of classical Indian art and its quest for evolving a distinct idiom not just for itself but also a panoramic view of India itself. His art thus celebrates both the personal and the political at the same time as the rich colours, motifs and effervescent human figures so symptomatic of ‘India’ at times also include the artist’s figure somewhere lurking in the background, watching them, as it were.

Born in 1935 in Kerala, A. Ramachandran graduated with a degree in Malayalam literature in Kerala University after which he went on to pursue a diploma in Fine Arts and Crafts from Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharti University Santiniketan. He was deeply influenced by Nandlal Bose, one of the pioneers of modern Indian art.

Ramachandran’s earlier works depicted the harsh, gruesome reality of the world with dark, tortured images. However, later on, his artistic idiom changed to something more life affirming, a celebration of life and its power to heal, rather. And, thus, we are introduced to his magnum opus works that combine the different elements of Indian classical art, such as dazzling motifs, decorative imagery and a melange of colours that astound the senses. The presentation of nature is aesthetic and striking, with trees, flowers, leaves, birds and fireflies painted in a definitive, realistic style.