V. Ramesh

Born in 1958 in Andhra Pradesh, V. Ramesh did his graduation and postgraduation in Fine Arts from MS University, Baroda after which he moved to Visakhapatnam to teach Fine Arts at the Andhra University. Maintaining a balance between his teaching work and his own artistic practice, Ramesh enjoys both, each experience sustaining and nourishing the other. Mythological and other narratives as well as literary texts and poetry inspire his painterly renderings — often in large scale. His art meanders around his philosophical leanings to recreate a dream world of landscapes where animals and human beings co-exist. Broad colourful brush strokes and thick lines, intertwined with grazing, and text characterize his work, evocative of faith, and Zen feel with a meditative appeal. Recipient of a Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture, and Sanskriti Award, Ramesh’s work has been exhibited in several solo as well as group shows across the country and beyond, including at the recent India Art Fair. He has also participated in some important art camps. V. Ramesh lives and works out of Visakhapatnam.

V. Ramesh about his work "Genesis of Epic":
"Once in a way, the smell of an old perfume, a snatch of a conversation or even an old faded image breaks us inside for a couple of minutes and a flood of memories comes rushing out. A while ago, I chanced upon a few old illustrations in a tattered copy of Ramayana, I was engulfed with childhood memories of the tale being narrated by my grandmother while being fed. Over the years I had moved on — my own reading as well as looking at different versions of the story had perhaps changed my own perception of the epic, but these illustrations acted as a catalyst to approach the ancient story through my work. The illustrations were the initial launching pad so to speak, to bring forth a series of painted images that hopefully have retained the same sense of wonder, pathos and poignancy as the tale had always held for me. The sage Valmiki on a walk one morning espied a frolicking pair of Krauncha birds, reveling in each other . The male bird is shot dead just then by hunter's arrow, and the piteous wails of the female bird, involuntarily make the sage burst in to a poetic verse cursing the hunter. Thus was born the first Sloka {verse} from the pathos and sorrow or 'shoka' of a slain bird. Valmiki was asked to compose the Ramayana as he could evoke so much pathos and sorrow in a verse. Thus was born a great poet and the genesis of a great epic. All great art as well as enduring myths are a result of our responses and reactions to reality and the environment around us."

V. Ramesh about his work "The man and the Mountain (the Sage)":
"Ramana maharishi was an eminent sage who lived in the early part of twentieth century in the southern part of India For most of his life he lived at the foothill of a sacred mountain called Arunachala where he mostly taught and communicated in silence. Thousands of people
flocked to him to get a sense of peace. It is this idea of an exemplary person and his close connection to nature/mountain that I have attempted to portray."