Artists Directory >Santhana Raj
"I am hungry about painting. What comes out of it, I don't know. All my intentions are not to accept a preconceived form. Circumstances force me to accept a particular form. This is true of colour too. A good artist is one who gets maximum results from minimum resources. I am a humble student all my life and find myself so much involved in the act of painting that I hardly have any time for sitting back to look at my own paintings. The college had at the helm DP Roy Chowdhuri, HV Ramgopal, S. Dhanapal and KCS Paniker on the teaching staff. Roy Chowdhuri inspired me towards form and colour in a very romantic way in the same way as Paniker stimulated my intellect and imagination. Roy Chowdhuri never had a second thought about his own view on modern art, while Paniker was inclined to see it in a different perspective. It was his firm conviction that modern movement in the Indian context had relevance only if it strengthened our national identity. Indeed, I have learnt a lot from all of them. One important lesson I have learnt from experience: Just as a in music so also in painting, it is the atmosphere which should be one's magnificent obsession."
Exhibitions
Participated in a number of major art shows at State and national levels. Represented at an international exhibition in Brazil and in 1964 at the Commonwealth Art Exhibition, London. Retrospectives held in New Delhi and under the sponsorship of the Computer Maintenance Centre (CMC, 1990) and Kumar Art Gallery, New Delhi (1996).
Camps
Invited to work at several camps organised by the Lalit Kala Akademies in New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and the Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu, Chennai, the South Zone Cultural Centre and the latest under the collective sponsorship of Max Muller Bhavan, Values Art Foundation and Cholamandal Artists' Village (1998), Chennai.
Awards
1957 & 1962: National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1955: Gold Medal, All India Fine Arts Academy, Calcutta
1982: Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu award
Honours & Titles
1987: Kalai Chemmal (Fellowship), Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu
1995: Kalaimamani, Government of Tamil Nadu
1996: Honoured by the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi, for his outstanding achievement in the field of art education.
1997: Kala Ratna, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi.
Position Held
1990: Retires as Principal of the Government College of Arts and Crafts,
Chennai.
Commission
1960: Commissioned by the Lok Sabha, New Delhi, to do portraits of national leaders for permanent display in Parliament House.; Paints in murals for the Government Museum, Chennai.
1981: Erects a Tamil Culture monument during the inaugural ceremony at the Tamil University, Thanjavur. Other commissions include: (1) Sculpture at the sky theatre located in the Birla Science Museum Complex, Chennai. (2) Sculpture erected at the Bank of Madurai, Chennai and (3) Sculptures for the Salem Polytechnic and Sivakasi Polytechnic (bronze).
Collections
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, Contemporary Art Gallery, Government Museum, Chennai, Campus Museum, Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu, Chennai, Kerala State Museum, Punjab Art Gallery, Chandigarh, Government Art Gallery, Bangalore, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai, and South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur, in addition to several other prestigious public and private collections, Indian and foreign.
Address :
No.9, II Main Road,
M C Nagar,
Madras - 600 064
