K C S Paniker (1911-1977)

"I have been influenced through out my artistic career by the great Indian spiritual thinkers. They explored the metaphysical and the spiritual worlds, while I interpreted it on my canvas.”

K.C.S. Panicker, known as one of the best metaphysical and abstract painters, took to interpreting the country's age-old metaphysical and spiritual knowledge in the 60s, when Indian art was still under the influence of the Western painters. "That was the time when a few Indian artists were trying to break out of this Western influence and establish a idiom and identity of their own," he once said.

Born in Coimbatore on May 30th, 1911, the lush green village in which Panicker lived influenced the colourful landscapes of his early years. The bright colours stayed in his paintings, even though he moved away from landscapes onto other things.

A virtual child prodigy, Panicker began painting landscapes when he was only 12. By the age of 17, he was already exhibiting at the Madras Fine Arts Society's annual shows.

Somewhere in 1918, he gave up college education to take up a job at the Indian Telegraph Department to support his family after the death of his father.

It was not until the age of 25 that he joined the Government School of Arts and Crafts in Chennai. Since 1941, Panicker had been holding one man shows in Chennai and Delhi. It was only in 1954 that he got the first international exposure when he held exhibitions at London and Paris.

The exhibitions' abroad and his exposure to abstract artists like Sarvodar Dali had a major influence on his art. "They hark back to the weird, but spiritually uplifting figurative exaggerations of ancient Indian painting and sculpture," Panicker said.

Yet, the colous he used were bright and sunny, the kinds of colors that you see in the paintings of the Impressionists. Somewhere down the line, Panicker moved on to use calligraphy and symbols to project a state of metaphysical abstraction.

KCS Panicker died in Chennai at the age 66 in January 1977.