K G Subramanium

K.G. Subramanyam was born in 1924 in Kuthuparamba, Kerala. He studied at the Presidency College in Madras from 1941-1942 and then Kala Bhawan from1944-1948. He also spent one year in London studying at the Slade School of Art under a British Council Research Scholarship. He is greatly influenced by Indian court paintings and by folk traditions from Kerala; indeed from all of India, in particular the Bengal art practices such as Kalighat painting and Pattachitra. As an artist he is extraordinarily versatile, cherishing the facility to work in diverse media, sizes, and techniques over a stylistic conformity to a single medium, genre, size, technique, and manner of visualization. K.G Subramanyan aimed at blurring the boundaries between art and the artisan. The artist has also dabbled in glass painting and toy making, even weaving, which is generally considered 'artisanal'. Even in his written works, the exploration of art as a language or means of communication is a recurring theme.