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 Born
in Palghat district, Kerala in 1945, Achuthan Kudallur, who
holds a diploma in Civil Engineering, wanted to be a writer
at first. Later, the canvas and its colours drew him
towards serious painting. The artist grew up in an
atmosphere charged with Gandhian values, the writings of
Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. His values and views are well
depicted in some of his paintings, which are a joyous,
riotous spread of colours. And yet some are melancholic,
even tragic.
 For
Achuthan, painting is not a dialogue or a conversation, but
a communion with colour. His works display a remarkable
economy of style and grace. His paintings are of a
non-figurative style and the medium he uses is oil.
Achutan's art is at once exciting, energetic, yet strangely
tranquil. For the viewer, to view, is to invite a kind of
haunting.
Inspired by nature and landscapes, his paintings, of Kerala
villages, beaches and evenings at the temple, reinforce his
belief that remembering implies reinventing. Achuthan says
"With a certain nostalgia, I remember the smell of the
expressionist paint spread over my canvas in the seventies.
I painted in that style because, with my way of looking at
the world at that time, there was no other way out. What I
do now with the colour is not a logical extension of those
pictures, but a confession that such story telling does not
necessarily make a picture".
 Achuthan
does not have a count of his works. Once he starts painting
it goes on, because his constant worry is of time passing
by. With a pleasant smile on his face he says, "Sometimes
at midnight, I get up and ask how old I am... in the 30s or
40s?"
Besides being rated as one of the India's topmost artists,
Kudallur has a huge collection of portrait and
illustrations for his own stories, which have been
published in prominent fortnightly magazines.
 A
recipient of the National Academy Award and Tamil Nadu
Lalit Kala Akademi Award, the artist is a widely travelled
person. Apart from sixteen solo shows all over India,
sponsored by major art galleries and institutions, he has
been part of most important juried and curated group
exhibitions, such as Sothebys India sale in London, New
South Delfina Gallery, London, Homage to Arthur Rimbaud in
India and France and Heart Intuitive Logic Exhibition.
He has had several Institutional commissions including Air
India, Mumbai. His works are in several individual and
institutional collections like the National Gallery of
Modern Art, New Delhi, Air India, Glenberra Musuem, Japan,
and with other collectors in India and abroad.
Address : Achuthan Kudallur,
#111, First Main Road, Worker's Estate, Neelankarai,
Chennai - 600 041.
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