About A. Ramachandran

Born in 1935 in Kerela, Ramachandran studied painting at Kala Bhavan in Visva Bharti, Shantiniketan in 1961. From 1961 to 1964, he did his doctoral thesis on the mural paintings of Kerala. His art is both contemporary and Indian in essence. Painter, sculptor, graphic artist, designer and art educationist, Ramachandran has explored diverse mediums and scales, with a dynamic personal vision and distinctive artistic style. He began this journey as an expressionist painter exploring the predicament of human condition and misery, that too, on a monumental scale.

Suffused with social imagery, his early works re-enacted themes of exploitation, oppression, war, human brutality, and political violence. The decorative elements and myths became an integral part of his works and his powerful line along with a greater understanding of colour and form created a dramatic ambience. His sculptures, which he made in the later years, were almost three dimensional translations of his paintings, containing multiple narratives and mythological interpretations. Recipient of the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2005, Ramachandran has several other prestigious awards to his credit. Some of them include the Raja Ravi Verma Puruskar in 2003 and the National Award for Painting in both 1973 and 1969. Ramachandran lives and works at New Delhi.