For the past five decades, the only constant in M A Sankaralingam’s life has been his canvas. And after years of learning, mastering and experimenting with portraiture — among several other conventional fine art forms — the Southern Railway employee is convinced he’s nailed it all. Sankaralingam has been creating paintings for railways’ calendars, brochures and safety posters. A little of that time was spent getting a double degree at the Government College of Fine Arts. By the time he retires in September this year, he would have exhibited in more than 28 exhibitions around Chennai and created more than 100 works of art in various styles. What the 60-year-old also stumps you with is his memory. “Before I went to school, I remember seeing kids in uniforms scribbling stick figures and would be taken over by this overbearing urge to draw endlessly,” he says. Inspiring his formative years were ornate illustrations from ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, ‘Parthiban Kanavu’ and Sandilyan’s novels, which appeared in Tamil weeklies.
‘Keshav’ was born in 1961 as Venkata Raghavan in Bengaluru. With a passion that germinated from childhood, his series of the Music Season in a renowned magazine, earned him accolades. This furthered him pursue as a lead cartoonist for ‘The Hindu’ daily, which he served for close to three decades. From the year 2016, he has devoted all his time to creating paintings that depict and exemplify the Hindu culture, for which he has earned followers both in India and abroad.
Son of renowned artist Sri. Kalki Maniam, Maniam Selven is also known by his stage name Ma.Se. Through his works, he expresses a wide range of concepts from the epics, history, religion, children’s stories, societal themes, as well as essays on various topics, all with the same level of dedication and conviction. When he depicts religious subjects, a divine grace elevates the characters. Ma.Se has worked on-the-spot at historic sites, traveled extensively in India and abroad, and won numerous honors and awards for his artwork and contributions to the arts.
Drdha Vrata Gorrick is an artist who was born and raised in the United States and trained in the traditional arts of South India, bringing the best of both worlds to his creative work. His work breathes new life into devotional art by fusing religious styles from various parts of India while remaining true to the Vedic tradition. Drdha thinks that the skills we learn are divine gifts that we can use to raise our consciousness. Drdha’s primary source of inspiration is the timeless art and architecture he encountered while travelling and studying in India for 15 years.
Padmavasan is the only student of the artist Shri Silpi. He drew Tamil Nadu churches for the publication “Aval-Vikadan” in Guru’s Path for three years. The serialized epics Ponniyin Selvan and Sivagancmiyin Sabatham by the great, renowned author Shri Kalki were drawn and illustrated by him. In Chidambaran’s Nataraja Sanctum, he depicted the Natarajar deities’ holy forms. The artworks were one-of-a-kind and fascinating, and their creation took almost a year to finish. These artworks are recreated in this volume. He was honored by Adeenams with numerous and Awards.