Vizag artist looks ‘within’ to paint

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Feb 18, 2012: At a time when artists look to the outside world for inspiration, here’s a painter who looks “within”. The works of Ramesh V., who teaches painting at Andhra University, are full of devotion, faith and the theme of unity with god.

“Such themes are not articulated in contemporary art. It’s not a conscious attempt by me to choose them either. It’s my habit to read poetry and I express those lines (which have an impact one me) through my work,” he says.

The painter adds that extensive reading of Advaitic philosophy during the last few years have opened up his views on unity — the oneness of being, which is often reflected in his works. “It was sometime back in Bhagawan Ramana Ashram that I found these beautiful lines of poetry by Karaikal Amma (of 5th century AD) in Tamil Nadu. Karaikal Amma, who was a very beautiful woman, asked the Almighty to make her ugly so that nobody would bother her, so she could devote herself to god. Such was her devotion,” adds the painter.

Ramesh, whose roots lie in West Godavari, spent most of his childhood in Rajasthan and Bihar as his father was a government employee. After coming to know about fine arts courses offered in Baroda, he discontinued his studies at Udaipur. He completed his BA in fine arts and post-graduate in painting from Baroda. “No one inspired me to be a painter. I used to do small paintings at home when I was a kid and would thus surprise everyone,” says Ramesh.

Just back from New Delhi where his exhibition is going on, he says that he used the images of three poets — Karaikal Amma of Tamil Nadu, Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka and Lal Ded of Kashmir, all from different eras — in his work. “These women were not only known for the intensity of their devotion, but also for their loss of illusion and their insights into human existence, which inspired me to take up these themes,” he adds.