ABOUT THE ARTIST

Vijaya Kumar is a self taught artist. His ardent love for art helped him study various art forms of all kinds and create original art works using a unique technique that he created since 1969.

Today, he is known both for his painting technique and his trademark mountainscapes that take the onlookers on a flight of fantasy. It’s equally their journey as the artist’s journey for without the latter the former is not possible.

JOURNEY

Vijaya Kumar started off with abstract paintings. His first exhibition in Guntur is a group show in 1978 with three other artists. They later became Guntur Kala Pandavas after another artist joined them. Together, they exhibited as a group for close to two decades until 1997 until the untimely demise of one of the brothers. It was in YB Chavan, Mumbai that the curtain came down on the group.

As years went by, the evolution of the artist in Vijaya Kumar was evident. His painting slowly went from abstract to surreal and then landed on nature’s most decorated art element in the absence of mankind - MOUNTAINS.

Today, he guides research scholars in their doctoral thesis papers. He is frequently invited to give demos in art centres to various sections of people and also in educational institutions that include BFA and MFA students. He also supports the creation of study material for MFA distance education courses affiliated to Karnataka State University. He is an honorary jury member of National Institute of Fashion Technology, Hyderabad. He is also a visiting faculty member at AISFM (Annapurna International School of Film and Media).

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,

For I would ride with you upon the wind,

Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,

And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”

― W.B. Yeats

So sang W.B. Yeats, the great Irish poet, in his exhilarated state, to the cosmic panorama of misty mountain ranges. Like poet Yeats, there are great many artists who simulated this ‘out of the world’ experience for their beholders through their enchanting paintings both in the west as well as in the east. One such artist in India is Vijay Kumar Somanchi.

Though these mountains he passionately paints are profoundly realistic, what amazes me is how he is able to mimic in his paintings the rugged details of the hills and boulders in their vivid reality without the loss of their 3D profundity. The probable answer to my amazement is that there is a paranormal factor at work in most of the artistic creativity.

NKP Muthu Koya Renowned Internaional Artist