Thota Vaikuntam: 50 years of painting daily life in rural Telangana

There is a poignant moment in Sruti Harihara Subramanian’s documentary on artist Thota Vaikuntam when he says: “The only thing that hurts me is that she (my mother) gave me everything ( but) I gave her nothing…” This line speaks volumes about the bond he shared with his mother, which later inspired the many mother-child sketches and paintings he made over his five decades of career. Each of them exudes a feeling of warmth, comfort and protection. The documentary on the octogenarian artist is part of the current exhibition Thota Vaikuntam: redefining the cultural outlookat the Art Alive Gallery in Delhi, a celebration of 50 years of a rich practice, spanning charcoal sketches, drawings and paintings.

Subramanian’s film acts as a perfect mirror of the works on display. She shows her daily routine at her home in Hyderabad. Looking at the works on display and then watching the film, you get a rare insight into the workings of Vaikuntam’s mind. He is shown, for example, using the back of his hand as a palette as makeup artists do, carefully putting on a touch of bright yellow, applying skin color to the canvas. “The colors, the paintings suddenly seem much more personal thanks to this simple act,” explains Sunaina Anand, director of the Art Alive Gallery.

Anand’s association with Vaikuntam dates back to the early 2000s, when she first saw his work at ITC Maurya New Delhi. She remembers being fascinated by the form, colors and flights of imagination, which brought to life a slice of rural Telangana, never before seen in Indian art. This meeting resulted in a book on Vaikuntam, one of the first significant projects undertaken by Anand as a gallerist and a long friendship between the two, with Anand often visiting his village, Burugupalli, which inspired his artistic practice.

Also read: Forging a new history for Indian craft heritage

Vaikuntam, the recipient of many honors including the Padma Shri, took up painting as a child. “I was fascinated by local street plays, dramas and puppet shows, whose stories revolved around Indian mythology,” he says. He studied the details of the performers’ costumes, makeup and facial expressions. “At home, I drew these figures from memory,” he adds. Women of rural Telangana, especially their faces, feature prominently in Vaikuntam’s works. “They are goddesses in my opinion,” he said.

In a book accompanying the exhibition, art historian Ashrafi Bhagat notes in her essay: “…the faces (in Vaikuntam art) manifested a brutal and raw character that undoubtedly conveyed power and strength mothers in their feminine roles. The women he depicted were mostly middle-aged mother figures, perhaps seeing in them the maturity of a productive life. According to her, the works, particularly those depicting maternal figures, transmit to the viewer an autobiographical narrative of the artist.

Vaikuntam took viewers on a guided tour of the exhibition, on view until November 20 and spread across two floors of the gallery. He offers detailed explanations of the processes behind some of his creations, including the complex wash technique he mastered over several decades of his artistic practice. He cites one particular design: a distinctive female figure with her bright red bindi, polka dot sari, striking eyes, bold features and a parrot – a recurring motif in his work – for company. His works are devoid of elaborate backgrounds or landscapes, with the focus solely on the figures. “I have often observed parrot motifs sewn on the clothes of women in my village,” he says. In this particular work, the lady’s face is divided into sections, each showing distinctive shades of a particular color. “One area is slightly darker than the rest, while the forehead is lighter,” adds Vaikuntam.

Also read: Lounge Loves: “In Vogue: The 90s,” miniature art and more

He attributes his journey of “self-discovery” to mentor and teacher KG Subramanyan of Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, who asked Vaikuntam to “discover himself, the memories of those times spent in the village and the people who live in the region. Thereafter, whenever the artist returned from Vadodara, he would draw the locals.

Vaikuntam art can also be seen as a tribute to Indian textiles. The sarees in his art, according to Bhagat, seem to originate from Sirsill, a town in Karimnagar district of Telgangana. The small dots on the clothes refer to another textile tradition: the sungudi sarees from Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Some of the more recent works in the exhibition highlight Vaikuntam’s preoccupation with larger canvases. Only now he uses pop colors in his paintings. According to Anand, Vaikuntam’s success lies in its relevance to viewers across generations. “I’ve had people in their 20s express interest in buying his work,” she says.

Among the many elements that stand out in the exhibition is a quote from the late modernist SH Raza from the book accompanying the exhibition: “(Vaikuntam art) is an original synthesis of traditional Indian concepts (with)…the inspiration (emerging) from Indian daily life. life. After Jamini Roy, his work constitutes a significant contribution to contemporary Indian art, without compromise and with a fullness of imagination and ecstasy.

Abhilasha Ojha is an arts and culture writer based in Delhi.