P S NANDAN

Lanky and slender, Pullarambakkam Sundarraj Nandhan, now 60, with flowing hair touching his shoulders, looks more like a yogi than a sculptor.

The thin rimmed glasses, below the nose bridge, adds queer charm to his scraggy personality. He moves about swiftly across the sandy campus of Cholamandal Artists Village with alertness, observing nature keenly, to keep the process of his creativity in constant evolvement.

Born in 1940 at Maduratakam in Tamil Nadu, Nandhan is a versatile artist who is both a painter and sculptor. His passion for sculpture is particularly intense. The medium he prefers to work in is metal, stone and terracotta; and in each of them he excels.

A Diploma holder in Painting and Advance courses, from Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, he has exhibited his works in solo and combined exhibitions since 1969. Initially, Nandhan experimented and started making sculptures in clay, metal sheets, bronze, brick, wood and granite. He followed the method of folk sculpture by placing smaller sections, one on top of the other and achieving height that way.

The artist develops his knowledge not so much through reading, as through sight. The experiences of the external world, which he absorbs, are usually assimilated into his expressions of art.

Nandhan believes that art should be richly diversified; its character determined more by the individualities of the various artists, than by movements of international scope, which lose their force in the course of time.

He says, " We must go back to our roots and seek inspiration from our own tradition. We have a cultural heritage of architecture, painting, music, sculpture and dance".

One of his earlier images in stone, Mother, reveals the finest characteristics of a mother, as enshrined in the shastras and scriptures, structured in geometrically textured forms. No wonder this particular sculpture draws admiration from the majority of visitors to the Choolamandal Outdoor Sculpture Garden.

Some of his other works are the Five Masks, A Form, Bird and Animal Head, all in granite.

He is the recipient of the Tamil Nadu State Lalit Kala Akademi Award and the National Award from the Central Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. He has also participated in various camps and workshops and his collections are found across the globe, in places like USA, UK, Poland and Canada.

Address: P.S.Nandhan, Cholamandal Artists Village, Injambakkam, Chennai 600 041.

|