Home Thota Vikuntham
About
Vikuntham was born in the year 1942 at Burugupalli, which is a small town in the Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. His father used to run a grocery shop.
The eminent painter hails from India. His works immaculately capture the nuances of simplicity in village lifestyle. Thota closely studied characters in several Telegu films and produced ink on paper and pen & pencil on paper masterpieces.
Education & Work
Thota attended fine arts classes at the College of Fine Arts and Architecture, Hyderabad. Later he moved to Baroda and joined Maharaja Sayajirao University as a faculty of Painting and Printmaking in the Fine Arts Department. This came as anincentive of his Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship from Andhra Pradesh. At that time he was under the esteemed guidance of K. G. Subramanyan at Baroda.
Thota’s drawings are stunning works with stark charcoal markings, transparent washes and unpretentious pencil sketches.He is a huge admirer of women folk and most of his masterpiecesreflects his reverence for the opposite sex. Besides, every single handiwork by Thota emits a rustic essence because they are heavily daubed by the life in an Indian countryside. Between 1978 and 1989, Thotastayed closely associated with Telugu movie industry as an art director.
Thota has exhibited his works of genius at several solo shows till the present day. He has also participated in group exhibitions. A very prominent show of which he was a part was the VII International Triennale at theLalit Kala Akademi in the year 1991. Other such eminent presentations made by him were the Art Encounter at Kassel in Germany; this was in the year 1992. His India-Encounter II was conducted at the Lee Arthur Studio in New York between 1994 and 95.
The Art Alive Gallery in New Delhi piloted a retrospective show of all his masterworksin the year 2005. In this painting gallery, Thota’s biography by SushmaBahl was also published.
Vikunthan’s rewardingcareer spanned over 30 years and during this time, he even bagged several awards. At present, all his illustrations are part of distinguishedassemblagesthat are till date being exhibited the world over. The past decade witnesses Vikunthan as a frequent contributor at venerated exhibitions across New York, London and Birmingham. Today, he resides as well as works in the city of Hyderabad.
Awards and Accolades
The year 1988 saw Vikuntham win the Bharat Bhavan Biennale Award in Bhopal. He also bagged the National Award; this honour was bestowed upon him by the Lalit Kala Akademi in the year 1993. In 1988-89, Thotareceived the National Award for Art Direction of a film Daasi.
