Overview for The Magic of Making: Essays on Art and Culture
In this collection of essays, written over the last 25 years, veteran artist K.G. Subramanyan express his concerns with a wide range of issues--art, aesthetics, visual perception and creativity; the importance of craft practice and its nurturing; the role and future of old traditions and cultural institutions in the contemporary world; the detrimental effects of the industrial revolution and high-technology societies; the constant depletion of the environment; our nation's inability to cope with the education and employment of its divergent multitudes; and the present-day scenes in art, education and society. Acknowledging that globalization is an essential and inevitable feature of modern civilization with its inbuilt impulsions, Subramanyan emphasizes that an intelligent human being must negotiate them with insight and vigilance to ensure a space for himself (and for the community he has intimate ties with) to grow towards greater fulfillment. These essays are full of Subramanyan's personal observations, readings, experiences and insights as artist, adviser, teacher, student and citizen of a world fast losing sight of its roots as it struggles to keep up with the relentless pace of progress set by other worlds and other choices.
K.G. Subramanyan (Author)
Born 1924, in Kerala, K.G. Subramanyan, a reputed painter, muralist and scholar, he took his education at the Presidency College, Madras, and at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan. Widelytravelled, Prof. Subramanyan has exhibited in India and abroad and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards such as Bombay Art Society Award (1957 & 1959), Honourable mention at Sao Paulo (1961), National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi (1965) Subramanyan also received Gold Medal at the First Triennale India. In 1975, Government of India conferred Padma Shri on K.G. Subramanyan for his contribution to Indian Art. In 1981, Subramanyan was honoured with ‘Kalidas Samman’ and in 1985, Lalit Kala Akademi elected him as Fellow of the Akademi. In 1991, Visva Bharati decorated him with Aban Gagan Puraskar. In 1992, he received D. Litt. Honoris Casua from Rabindra Bharati University Calcutta and in 1997 from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. In 2001, Government of Kerala, honoured him with Manaviyam Ravi Varma Award. Lalit Kala Akademi in their Golden Jubilee celebrations, 2005, conferred him with the Kala Ratna. In January 2006 he has received the Padma Bhushan.
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