K P Pradeepkumar
Pradeepkumar KP was born in 1970 and brought up in one of the remotest villages of the Malabar coast in Kerala. He completed his Bachelors in Sculpture from College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram in in the mid 90’s, and then turned to painting via the mode of creating drawings for his sculptures. There the artist was actively involved in all kind of art activities happening in his vicinity. Apart from this, being exposed to this sensibility ever since his childhood, a background created of socio-political and historical relevance are evident in his art. As there existed an extreme practice of figurative art making and drawing not only in the curriculum but also in the art practice, his work does manifest figures and landscape, but in a contemporary context.
Pradeepkumar continues to maintain a classical approach to his painting predominantly using oils on canvas. The artist’s work is about people around him and the changes in landscape, which also are evidence as well as party to his political statements.
His depiction of the native and rural is proof of his desire to retain his Indian entity. A strong desire to create his own language, despite all the inherent influences makes Pradeepkumar’s work individualist as well as contemporary. His paintings are more subjective and concentrate on the figuration and each detail to reveal the character of the personality. Clearly defined objects, each signifying something within the social context, integrates with each other, whether they are still life ones or figures, to create a whole, which is not only a statement of the artists psyche but also reflective of the reaction of the proximity and reality of rural, social and political intertwining which eventually rules the lives of the masses of rural India.
Pradeepkumar KP has held several solo shows in Kerala and is currently living and working in Baroda.
His exhibit with us is a watercolour, gouache, pastels, pencil on fabriano titled Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside awakes made in 2021.
