Artists Directory >Ramalingam
When God closed the doors to the world of sound and thus the ability to speak for Ramalingam, He seems to have opened the doors to a world of colours and dreams through those colours. Ramalingam does not go searching for ideas in the outside world; he gets them right at home and perhaps on the way to his work on the streets.
He brings a certain intensity and sensitivity to the simple domestic scenes through the repeated motifs. Dogs, cows, auto rickshaws, banana trees, electric fans, chairs, tables, beds and human being mingle freely to create a world of fantasy which is a unique perception of Ramalingam; in this world one may find a swimming pool next to a bed, a tree inside the living room, all in defferent directions, vertically of horizontally, most often not in the attitude they are normally found. But what might sound incongruous when explained actually creates a sense of naïve intimacy. One may find a man towering over a bus, a tree in a horizontal position in the living room, a well 'lying' on its side - sounds shocking? No, it is actually quite charming.
Bright hues of crimson, yellow and green fill spaces created by strong black lines. Lines are known to be the strength of the artists of the College of Arts & Crafts, Chennai of which Ramalingam is an alumnus. The patterns formed by these strong lines may appear flat but they throb with life and depth. The wavy lines, the squiggles and the hatched lines fill the space, create a sense of mass and lend textural variations. Several shapes are repeated in the animate and inanimate objects, such as the ceiling fan and the banana tree and its leaves, the pillar of the old house and the lower torso of the human and so on to make the patterns balanced and interesting. The man-woman relationship he depicts at once evoke an eroticism and innocence. He is not respected in his imageries, but one can feel the artist's presence as well as his graphic prints.
Besides the Lalit Kala Akademic Religion centre, Chennai, he gained experience in print making in Oxford Print Makers Studio and Falmouth College of Art, UK; in the last mentioned institution and also at the Vermont Studio Center, USA he furthered his skills in painting. He also learnt fresco painting at the Banasthali Vidyapeeth, Rajasthan (India). Including the National Award of India, he is the recipient of several awards, fellowships, travel grants and scholarships which took him to the UK and the USA a number of times; he also held one-men shows in those countries besides participating in group shows from 1979. Similarly he has been part of several prestigious group shows in India and has also held a number of solo exhibitions.
