Painter CN Karunakaran dies

Kochi: C. N. Karunakaran, 73, the internationally celebrated painter from Kerala, died following  cardiac arrest at a private hospital here on Friday.

The former chairman of Kerala Lalithakala Akademi, he was a recipient of several awards, including the prestigious Raja Ravi Varma award in 2009. Noted for the intricately decorative patterns woven across the pictorial surface, he adopted a variety of figurative styles that swung from geometric to organic and to quasi- abstract.

Born in 1940 at  Brahmakulam, near Guruvayur, his life was one of conviction and will. At the age of 11, he was partially crippled in one of his legs due to typhoid but his  indomitable spirit never failed him.

CN pursued diplomas in design and painting at a  young age at the School of Arts and Crafts, Madras, under  masters like D.P. Roy Choudhari and K.C.S. Panikker. Kerala murals made a definitive impact on his sensibility, which influenced his style.

In 1973, he opened Chithrakootam, his own art gallery in Kochi, the first of its kind in Kerala.  He was also associated as art director in various Malayalam movies such as Aswathamavu, Ore Thooval Pakshikal, Akkare, Purushartham and Aaleesinte Anweshanam.

His body was  shifted to his home near Mamangalam and  people from all walks of life,  including Cultural Affairs Minister K.C. Joseph and Excise Minister K.Babu, paid  their last respects to him. The cremation will be held with state honours at the corporation crematorium at  Ravipuram, Kochi,  at 12 noon on Sunday.

The artist is survived by wife Easwari, son Ayillyan and daughter Ammini.

Next: C.N. Karunakaran: An irrecoverable loss

C.N. Karunakaran: An irrecoverable loss

Ajaya Kumar

As an artist he started his career in Kerala during the late sixties. It was not just in the role of a  painter but as a complete designer . Those days artists from Kerala especially those who made an impact at the national or international level, never settled in Kerala. CN was perhaps the first painter to settle down in the state. It was a kind of  an adventurous decision for a painter to settle down in Kerala without doing a regular job.

He came down to Kochi and then of course he started doing illustrations for many magazines, posters and book covers. I have been told by many people that CN used to even do sign boards for livelihood. His hand was capable of doing all kinds of designs and he even turned to interior designing which very few artists had done. Not many attempted the kind of large scale design works as Karunakaran did.

CN was never a full timer. In early seventies I met him in Kollam with Rajan Kakkanadan  and during those days he used to engage in various kinds of activities including giving art direction for films. In between, he set up an art gallery Chitrakudam in Ernakulam. It was rare to have a art gallery as in the mid 70’s there was no major market for art and art galleries across the country were rare.

I think it was in the early 90’s that he became a full time painter and never looked back. It was during that period one of his shows was inaugurated by E M S Namboodiripad. As full time freelancer he held several solos throughout India.

Talking about his works – right in the beginning he arrived at a particular individualistic style of his own, by combining modernity with tradition. He assimilated so many things from the Indian traditional drawings but the way he coloured his paintings was totally different.

It had references of murals, miniatures and nature in particular . On the other side he was a very brilliant landscapist and could handle water colour like his master KCS Panicker.  If Kerala landscape emerged through his water colours, it re-emerged through CN after 20 years.

He was particular in doing this kind of landscape in both water and oil colour and he handled both flexibly.
His death is like any kind of great loss which the coming generation face when a doyen of the field passes away, it is irrecoverable.

(The author is a freelance  painter)