The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : From traditional to modern, his canvas is wide and varied

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Sunday, Dec 02, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

From traditional to modern, his canvas is wide and varied

— PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

Brush with fame: V.V. Swamy working on his paintings at his studio.

If days are lost in mundane official chores, nights unveil a bright little world of colours for him. V.V. Swamy talks about his creative aspirations and his saga with the easel, brush and palette to T. Lalith Singh.

A Public Information Officer with Central Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Limited, 63-year-old Swamy has a hectic schedule acting as a conduit between the public and the organisation. Files, notes, calls, complaints and enquiries take the time away, leaving him little space to breathe easy.

And when the world goes to sleep, the creative bug comes alive and the tryst with artistic pursuit begins. “The creative inclinations do not allow me to sleep and I lose myself in the world of paintings,” he says.

Artistic legacy

Inheriting the art from his father V. Venkateswarlu, an eminent artist himself, Swamy took to drawing and painting in traditional styles during childhood. T

he endeavours spread over four decades has resulted in more than 2,100 paintings in different media, water, acrylic, oil in both traditional and modern styles.

To his credit, the modest artist has 19 one-man shows covering wide and varied themes and the works are in collection in the United States, Germany and United Kingdom.

“My rural background influenced my earlier works. I brought onto the canvas all the rustic men and women and the flora and fauna that I came across,” he recalls.

Later, growing up and settling down in the city and also the association with artistic fraternity enlarged the vision to a wider canvas and helped encompass contemporary subjects. “I identify my paintings with colour and hence use a range of primary colours. Also, I prefer to create a series of paintings on a theme than restrict it to a single work,” he says. In this long journey, the artist has experimented with all mediums and materials from pencil, charcoal to water/oil/acrylic colours on paper, board and canvas.

If one series brought out the life in rural side, another captured the impact of urbanisation and yet another depicted Ganesha based on Sanskrit slokas.

Unique craft

He did not rest there but went on to develop a unique craft of egg-shell engraving and won commendation for his works from Richard Nixon, Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, V.V.Giri and the list goes on and on.

Awards have been numerous and he also found a listing in the Limca Book of Records. Did he stop there? No, Swamy also authored several research papers, articles and literary works.

His books ‘Poetic Biography of Hyderabad’ and ‘My Inner Vision’ were acclaimed and he even received Honorary Doctorate in Literature at World Congress of Poets held at Sydney, Australia in 2001.

Unending journey

How does he manage to juggle all these artistic passions?

“My creative instincts are restless and they fuel me to take up newer and newer challenges.”

Is he contented?

An emphatic no is the answer and Swamy adds, “My creative journey goes on…”

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