Immortalised on canvas

Do what you are passionate about’ — this isn’t an advice that a father would give his son, and certainly not five decades ago. But S Nandagopal recalled that his father, KCS Paniker said just that — right from his school days. “I never wanted to be a painter, since I didn’t really admire the ‘wild ways’ of artists. I chose to do B.Sc Physics at Loyola College. But when I saw Cholamandal being started and artists carrying their belongings to the sandy stretches of Injambakkam, I wanted to join art school. My father said that since a degree has value in India, complete it and then join art school. I did just that – but chose ceramic instead,” recalled the sculptor. 

For Nandagopal, the dread of people seeing his father’s influence in his work, make him take a different path. However, Paniker, who left his cushy job at the Indian telegraph department to pursue art at Madras School of Art (now known as Government College of Fine Arts), understood the struggles of an artist. “He was always experimenting – be it the early water colours to using language as a symbolic visual component.” he said. Paniker then went on to teach at his alma mater and was appointed as Principal in 1957. 

More than raking in the moolah, Paniker focussed on his artistic growth. “During the early days, when my father used to do water colours, he was selling it for Rs 150 or 200, which was a good sum back then. I remember him telling my mother that ‘if everybody understands my work, there’s something wrong with it’. He gave it up the next day and started working on his next series, experimenting with heads disproportionate to the rest of the subject. Sales dropped the next day. He didn’t have enough money to buy canvas. On a large piece of paper, he would apply maida and water, to create his own canvas. At one point, there was paper all over the house, even under the cot,” laughed Nandagopal.

Paniker is also the founder of the Cholamandal Artists Village, a self-funded initiative by the artists. The idea was sparked off, when a group of his students wanted to live and work together in a commune-styled set up. The visionary first ensured that the artists all pooled together their resources and purchased a piece of land in Injambakkam. “My father said that a man will not kill for his wife but he will kill for land. In 1966, the first group of artists – C Dakshinamoorthy, KR Harie, V Viswanadhan, Jayapal Panicker and KM Adimoolam – started living in their thatched huts. My father had taken up and enormous responsibility, as close to 40 artists were living at Cholamandal back then. He decided to move there in 1968. He was worried about how the artists would make a living. Then he got the idea of earning by having craft exhibitions, which worked as the tourists had started coming to Mamallapuram,” said Nandagopal, recalling that it was the golden age of the Madras Art Movement, between 1950 to 1980. “The kind of work produced was amazing and we have documented it at the museum at Cholamandal,” he said. 

On his deathbed, Paniker, who has inspired thousands of artists, decided to donate his life’s work, which was valued at millions of rupees. “When he was dying of cancer, he wrote to the Tamil Nadu government, wishing to donate 58 canvases and four bronze works to the state, where he studied, taught and created the Cholamandal Artists’ Village. My father received no response. He then put an advertisement opening the offer to other states. C Achutha Menon, Chief Minister of Kerala, responded and the KCS Paniker Gallery came up in Thiruvananthapuram. It was renovated three years ago,” said Nandagopal. 

Paniker had an idea of immortality, said Nandagopal. Truly, Paniker’s legacy lives through his complex canvases, still attracting art lovers and students from around the world. The launch will be held at Artworld – Sarala’s Art Centre along with a showcase of his works.