Gurusiddapa: New Kid On The Block

This is the year of Gurusiddapa. His painting titled “Thittibhasana on Cloud” won the Lalit Kala Academy’s national award. Then he exhibited his meticulously crafted works at Bangalore and then took the exhibition to Mumbai. What is important however that these works are so fresh and so new that most viewrs were quite at awe at his recently concluded show in Bangalore’s Sumukha gallery.

Sumukha Gallery has not presented any new talent for a long time. They had been mostly concentrating on Bengal’s legendary artists like Ganesh Pyne, Bikash Bhattacharya and BR Panesar. Even though placed in the Bangalore City, the gallery has hardly ever showcased works of Bangalore based artists.  Gurusiddappa’s show is significant from this point of view also. The native artists of Karnataka had faced a tough battle as most bangalore based collectors of art ignored them. Gurusiddappa is however showing a new trend of interest in Karnataka based artists. 

Gurusiddappa completed his BFA in Painting from Karnataka  Chitrakala Parishat and then went on to do his MFA from MS University, Baroda. Gurusiddappa belongs to Chitradurga district in Karnataka and traces of his early days of childhood are evident in this particular series. His style of painting shows however lesser influence of local art-forms and he bears closer resemblance to what is happening in the rest of India’s urban centres. Crisp drawings, colourful renderings, touch of comic and irony in subject matter: these are the hallmarks of Gurusiddapa.

Those who have missed the previous show at Bangalore can now catch him at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai.