The Cholamandal Artist village will be 60 next year. Over time, nine and a half acres were purchased, as the fund was warned. In 1965, a batic exhibition was sold one and gave the group Rs 50,000. Many people placed their share for a piece of ground in injambakkam. The sea and its sandy shores provoked them. Three commun artists talk to us.
P Gopinath (B. 1948)
“We all paid for the land,” says Gopinath. Venkatapati’s first house was, and the second of Paneikar. Gopinath lived in a quick hut. Gopinath said, “Panikar was a father figure, philosopher, teacher – you could reach him at any time.” In those days, he sold paintings for 100 to 150 rupees. The magnificent but unstable Ramanujam, which was rescued by Panikar and brought to the community, made a picture behind the card, which had no money to buy paper.
“We used to walk on the beach and help the fishermen pull into the trap so that we could get free fish,” Gopinath said laughing. When a tea-Wok Opened, it was a welcome base. “They were the best times in our lives, despite our struggles. We learned to understand each other, not intervene in each other’s ideology.” The setting of Cholamandal was invaluable to its resident artists, not as lucky, unlike others. “Many good artists in our college were later lost in the crowd, dependent on work from cinema hoardings and advertising.” Gopinath’s interest in color was already cement, from his praise to Gagin to short paintings. “Some trips to Kangra strengthened my resolve to create their own illustrated grammar.”
Senior artist P Gopinath in Cholamandal Art Village | Photo Credit: Akhila Ezavaran
Not everyone believed that artists could live together. A visiting journalist wrote a scary review – ‘People starting this’ Utopia ‘can be pushed into a cut in the Bay of Bengal.’ Gopinath says, “We were lucky that Lonely planet Wrote a good article that was attracted to the crowd and changed such perceptions. ,
SG Vasudev (B. 1941)
When KCS Paneikar came to know that his student, SG Vasudev and Arnavaz were close friends, they encouraged his match. She was a free-free Parsi girl, and she was from Mysuru, who was already breaking the conference by joining the School of Arts and Crafts. These two will get married to the exact artistic brain. Cholamandal gave freedom to artists in every way to share life, cooperate and find their true spirit. Parents’ only son (he had two sisters) who hoped that he would be a doctor or engineer, Vasudev encouraged Kala, by the art reviewer G. Venkatachalam. Now, he had to prove this. After school, he acquired a prestigious national scholarship. “I told my father not to send any other money.” Vasudev became a skilled visual artist, with unusual techniques of layered paintings, with excellent copper relief and tapestry.
Artist SG Vasudev | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Vasudev proudly said, “Paneikar started Cholamandal so that we could live independently. We never had to touch government money.” From his early days in the village, he was interested in sisters and arts. An open-air theater was built, in which Paneikar said, “What about non-artists? We need to make a place for them as well.” Here Vasudev invited poet Ak Ramanujam and theater-director Girish Karnad. Musicians and dancers also performed for free.
After Arnavaz died of cancer, Vasudev moved to Bangalore. He later married writer-activist Ammu Joseph. From the cover design for Kannada books to the logo, workshops and camps of Ranga Shankara Theater, and now Art Parks in Bangalore, Vasudev have always been open for art-form. At the age of 84, he is creating a collage, which he started during the epidemic experimenting with the wedding card cut out. From poets to craftsmen, Vasudev has always adopted various influences. The collage gives an example of its feeling of cooperation.
C. Douglas (B. 1951)
“I Visited Cholamandal as a Student and Stayed Over Weekends. Paniker Had Retired and I Met Him There,” Recalls c douglas, who was at the college of arts from 1970 to 1970 to 1976. About art and literature, his love for Wuthering Heights“Here, Douglas found that the oil paint was invented to mimic the skin tone and meat. The slippery surface made such a difference. It gave the body form.”
Senior artist C. at Cholamandal Art Village C. Douglas | Photo Credit: Akhila Ezavaran
Already, Joseph James, who was teaching economics at the Madras Christian College in Tambaram, was ready for the village. James became a cross -cross of the Madras movement, and the editor of the journal ArtrandsWhich was published by Progressive Painters Association from 1961 to 1982. Douglas reminded, “There was perfection in life. Modern Indian art was coming in a historical timeline.”
In 1978, Kala connoisseur Sarah Abraham organized a journey exhibition Kala Yatra. Six out of 12 artists were from Madras, as Douglas says, “I was a part of it, as well as Ganesh Penn, Ram Kumar, Bash Bhattacharya, Hussain, Surya Prakash, Laxma Gaud, Janakiram, Nandagopal and Gopinath, along with Thota Thani,” the show was completely sold. ,
Published – September 22, 2025 01:08 pm IST