Artists Directory >Janakiram PV
"My mind is very clear. I know exactly what I want to do. The moment of great happiness for me is when I stand in front of the blank sheet with the chalk in my hand. I am emotional, there is no doubt. When I go into a temple, I would fall into a trance when the crescendo of music and chanting of Muruga rend the air. Often I would faint and have to be carried away. I owe everything to Paniker. He picked up four of us, Kushiraman. Vidyashanker Sthapathy, Anila Jacob and me. He was the force that drove us, who gave us the courage to discover ourselves. Critics keep saying that my early work was better than my present work which they dismiss pompously as 'elaborate, loosely iconographic, somewhat baroque, addressed to the buying public'. ' I do not agree with this assessment . An artist must be free to change to keep moving forward. Also he must be aware of public. If he relates to public, it does not mean that he stops being an artist. My work has varied from piece to piece. The medium is the same, the technique is the same; it is hard work beating the pieces of metal inch by inch, but the outcome is always different. In my mind I am very clear about what I am doing and the moment I finish a work I am very happy about it. That is what matters to me at any rate".
Born : 1930
Details of Training
1953 ; Graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, with a diploma in Fine Arts (Painting).
1962 : Diploma in Fine Arts (Sculpture)
1964 : Diploma in Fine Arts (Commercial Art).
1973 : Honorary Diploma in Sculpture from the Hungarian Government
Exhibitions
1953-56 : Mysore Dassera
1954-60 : Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta.
1952-54 : All India Khadi Swadeshi and Industrial, Chennai.
1953-65 : The Association of Young Painter and Sculptors
1956-62 : The Progressive Painters' Association, Chennai
1962 : All India Sculptors Association, Mumbai.
1961-76 : The National Exhibitions, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
1962-64 : State Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai
1964 : Chennai (Madras) Group, New Delhi, Under the sponsorship of the progressive Painters' Association
1963-66 : The PPA - sponsored show of the Madras Group, New Delhi.
1965 : Hyderabad Art Society; Participated in the Lalit Kala Akademi sponsored exhibition of contemporary Indian art at Nairobi; The Paris Biennale as an invitee from the Lalit Kala Akademi,
New Delhi
1965-66 : Group shows at Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai, Jehangir Art Gallery and Taj Gallery Mumbai, and at various venues in Chennai.
1967 : Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, with another artist.
1968 : I Triennale-India , Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; Contemporary Indian Painting, Sculpture and craft at Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Vienna and Oslo, under the sponsorship of the Indian council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi
1971,1975, : II, III, IV and V Triennales-India, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1971 : Contemporary Indian art shows in Yugoslavia (Belgrade), Hungary (Budapest) and Czechoslovakia (Prague)
1973 : 25 Years of Indian Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; II Small Sculpture Biennale at Budapest
1975 : Taj Coromandal, Chennai (All India Exhibition held in connection with the Antinuclear Programme).
1978 : Indian art show in Moscow sponsored by the Trade fair Authority of India, New Delhi.
1980 : Travelling Exhibition of selections from the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) in Tehran, Moscow and East European countries; Silver Jubilee sculpture show, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; Contemporary Asian Art show Part II held in Japan (Fukuoka Museum Tokyo) under the auspices of the national Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
1981,1991, 1993 & 1997 : Indian Sculpture Today, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai ; The Madras Metaphor, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta.
Lecture Demonstrations
1973 : Karnataka State Lalit Kala Akademi, Bangalore (Sculptors' Camp);
1975 : Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Baroda;
1976 : Sculptors' Camp, New Delhi, organised by the Lalit Kala Akademi;
1977 : Sculptors' Camp at the JJ School (College) of Art, Mumbai under the sponsorship of the Directorate of Art, Government of Maharashtra;
1980 : All India Sculptors' Camp, Bangalore;
1975 : All India Sculptors' Camp, Srinagar, organised by the Jammu and Kashmir State Lalit Kala Akademi;
1972-85 : Member, Executive Board, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; Member, Executive Board, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1978 : Member, IV Triennale-India Committee, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; Member, Selection and judging committee, Lalit kala Akademi, New Delhi; Member, Art Purchase Committee for the IV Trienale India, New Delhi (India Section), Lalit Kala Akademi
1983 : Elected Fellow of the Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu. Also member of the Art Purchase Committee for the National Gallery Modern Art, New Delhi and as lecturer in Sculpture at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, for many years.
Awards
1964-66 : National Award for sculptures, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1965 : Silver Medal, Hyderabad, Art Society.
1965-66 : State Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai.
1973 : Grand Prix, II Biennale of small Plastics at Budapest.
Collections
Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu, Chennai;
Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi;
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi;
Contemporary Art Gallery, Government Museum, Chennai
Campus Museum, Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai;
Punjab Museum, Chandigarh;
Hyderabad Museum;
Air India, Mumbai;
Gandhi Museum, Chennai;
Hollywood star, Kirk Douglas, among the private collectors and
Open Air Museum, Middleheim, Belgium and Kusees Boyaud d'Art cited Histore, Brussels, among the public collections abroad.
