One day, between April 2017, S. Nandagopal tried to reach me. I was away from Chennai. A day later I heard that he had died. It was a joyful day, which was a joyful day, ending with his unexpected departure, Kala, his wife told me. Why did he call, I was surprised, with deep regrets. Kala said, “He probably wanted to tell you that Panikar’s work was sold in Ocean auction for a record.” In fact, 1.8 million, in fact, from his words and symbols series, was accepted as one of the finest paintings of Indian modernity sold that month. KCS Paneikar, father of Nandagopal, eminent artist, prominent proposer of the Madras movement and founder of the village of Cholamandal artists, passed in 1977, passed in 1977, in 1977. Art appreciates the value, but what about the artist?
Early days – Cholamandal | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The show run by Ashwita Gallery in the city, Cholamandal, features 22 artists and 51 works of the group, which is half of Ashwita’s non-commercial collection, and the rest is on loans from private galleries and collectors. Curator Ashwin Rajagopalan stressed, “We are the reason for this show that it is relevant today. The problem that Paneikar addressed in the 1960s is a continuous problem: How do the artists survive?”
Batic in Cholamandal Exhibition | Photo Credit: Shantinu Krishnan
Arts, Industry, Crafts and Regional Modernism
Shruti Srinivasan, co-erarator, Ashwita says, “How did I really connect art, crafts and battic” The craft is certain, undeniably Indian, excellently detailed.
Beyond the ‘art for art’, monetary returns are required, not only for success but for livelihood. Middle-century Madras artists faced another misleading dilemma-how to become a true modern “Indian” artist. Art Critic Ludwig Goldsider wrote to Paneikar in 1954, after his one-man show in London, accepting how the Indian artist has to cross Western teachings, go beyond traditional styles of Ajanta, Tanjore and Small Pictures, and then emerge with a real Indian essay with a modern master. It was a difficult question.
KS Gopal | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
With two decades of experience, the visionary, Panikar solved these concerns into an excellent stroke. The Artists Handicraft Association, established in 1963, paved the way for the village of Cholamandal Artists in 1966, “The greatest craftsmen are the greatest artists.” Arts and crafts will leave by hand, as they were always in India, with strict training in Government College of Arts and Crafts (now Madras College of Art) – the oldest living art school in the country.
Cholamandal – Early Day | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Tassel, Tamil Nadu Seramics Limited, established in old age by the TN government in 1974, promoted a local ceramic hub. In Madras, the artist’s Kanniapapan established the Tassel Art Pottery, which is distinguished for his studio pottery. These mid -century modern ceramic pieces with abstract motifs are unique and central to the Indian modernist landscape. Crafts are practiced in generations, separating this exhibition, but begging questions: is there a high art and low art? When this commercialization is done, art is devalued?
TRP Mookiah | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A village in the city, a new identity
The academy inspired the village of artists, which in a real way comes in the full cycle in the new fine arts with this show. In the 1960s, it was in a three -storey building in VPRI near the College of Arts. Paneikar allowed the artists to camp overnight. A cameradery began that was swept away in the idea of ​​a commune: a place to live and work in an environment that independently support and activate the creative exchange.
Senior artists P Gopinath, M. Santhipati, c. Douglas, PS Nandan and Selvaraj in Cholamandal Art Village. Photo Credit: Akhila Ezavaran
Why, these artists turned into abstraction? In their essay Why do i paintThe panicker writes how he was filled with symbols, equations and geometric information in the notebook of a math student. The imagination of writing presented the possibility of expressions that were unknown. Gopinath does this with vivid colors and geometric forms, Haridasana with its esoteric new Tantric expression, while Akitit Narayanan renders sophisticated colors in calligraphy and micro geometry. Without the meaning associated with symbols, we only see pictures. This is a path that has allowed the actual expressions to the artist, which is free from realistic associations, using symbols without specific inclination. Rajagopalan indicated at another level, suggests, “Panikar wanted to create a place where art should flourish, no language of language, no caste, no state. No state. That is why, when this show came together – I had this ‘Aha’ moment – if you take words and make them in design, then it does not mean it.”
A specific style emerged – one that attracted from indigenous sources of tribal, folk, mythology and tradition, as we have seen in SG Vasudev’s copper Relief Tree of Life since 1977. ‘Modern mechanical wheel – a metaphor of new ones carrying the old. In the village of his delightful artists on the sea shore, each artist made his mark, united with a love of the line. Cholamandal brings these stories together like uneven gems, each with its brightness.
Cholamandal is in Fine Kala Academy Chennai till 25 September.
Published – September 22, 2025 12:56 pm IST