N. S. MANOHARAN

Bio

S. Manohar received a D.F.A. from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kumbakonam, and both a P.D.F.A. and an M.F.A. from the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai. He is presently a senior lecturer at the Government College of Arts and Crafts at Kumbakonam. 

His academic grounding was in watercolour, with landscapes of Kumbakonam rendered in a typical “Kumbakonam college style’. Thin, transparent layers of paint were used to achieve a poetic realist style, evoking moods and emotions. This technique found a similar translation in his work with oils and acrylics. Charcoal became his favourite medium for detailed studies. Eventually these interests were replaced by pen and ink, which offered a chance to explore the stylization of forms through CTOSS -hatching, value gradations and the oppositions of negative and positive spaces.

Since 1978 his work has been shown at numerous shows in Chennai, Trichy, Kumbakonam, Mysore, New Delhi, Bangalore, Singapore, Karaikudi, and Mumbai, among others. He is actively involved in various artists’ camps held at Chennai, Ogenekkal, Andamans and Nicobar Islands, Meghalaya, Thanjavur, Ootacamund, Goa and Karaikudi. He is the recipient of awards from the Lalit Kala Academy, Chennai, in the State Level Student and Central Level Senior categories. His works are in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, the State Lalit Kala Akademi in Chennai, and various private collections in India and abroad. The artist divides his private and professional life between Chennai and Kumbakonam.