The artist who broke free of limitations

Ramachandran was as adept at writing children’s books and practising Carnatic music as he was in the visual arts

- Avantika Bhuyan

I do not adhere to limitations, which is why I consider myself a 'bohurupi' in Indian art,"artist A.Ramachandran had said before the opening of his 2022 show, Songs Of Reclamation, at Emami Art, Kolkata, And indeed, throughout his prolific career, he refused to be tied down by mediums, themes or art theories. The 89-year-old artist, who died in Delhi last week, worked on children's books, sculptures, oils, watercolours, drawings, sketches and more.

Born in Attingal, Kerala, in 1935, Ramachandran had always been interested in different forms of art, be it music, painting or literature. He was not only proficient in Carnatic music but in poetry and prose as well. He earned a master's degree in Malayalam literature before pursuing a diploma in fine arts and craft from Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, 1958 onwards, where he studied under masters such as Ramkinkar Baij, Benode Behari Mukherjee and Nandalal Bose.

Ramachandran's early influences ranged from the beauty of the local landscape in Kerala to viewing the murals at the local Krishnaswami temple in the light of the flickering lamps during a visit with his mother for the evening puja. R.

Siva Kumar, who was a close friend of the artist and has curated many seminal shows of his works in the past, including Songs Of Reclamation in 2022 at Emami Art in collaboration with Delhi's Vadehra Art Gallery, writes about these early influences in his essay, A Ramachandran: A Retrospective. "(There) he first understood that art transcends the real.