This story is from April 16, 2017

S Nandagopal -- Man who sculpted a legacy, shaped a movement

One of the last guardians of the Madras Art Movement, son of seminal artist KCS Paniker, and a national award-winning artist at the age of 24, sculptor S Nandagopal did not let of any of these labels make him complacent, always striving to create lasting work and more importantly a milieu where art could thrive. And in a way he had been able to accomplish what he set out to do — half a century of his work in metal was behind him, the Cholamandal museum was set up, and the artists’ commune celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
S Nandagopal -- Man who sculpted a legacy, shaped a movement
S Nandagopal
CHENNAI: One of the last guardians of the Madras Art Movement, son of seminal artist KCS Paniker, and a national award-winning artist at the age of 24, sculptor S Nandagopal did not let of any of these labels make him complacent, always striving to create lasting work and more importantly a milieu where art could thrive. And in a way he had been able to accomplish what he set out to do — half a century of his work in metal was behind him, the Cholamandal museum was set up, and the artists’ commune celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
The 71-year-old artist who breathed his last on Friday evening at his residence was for many, in the national and international art circuit, one of the most prominent faces of the Cholamandal Artists’ Village and the Madras Art Movement.

“He was one of the few people who despite being a prolific and industrious artist, made time to network and convince art collectors and corporates to engage with the community here. It was his credibility and honest purpose that made encouraged people to be more involved,” says retired IAS officer and art collector P M Belliappa, adding that the book ‘Paniker’, which Nandagopal wrote as a tribute to his father, was one of the few comprehensive studies on the master.
Nandagopal strived to preserve what his father Paniker, founder of Cholamandal and key figure of the Madras Art Movement, had started. While his father brought together young artists in the 1960s and urged them to live together in a self-sufficient environment and find a defining path to their creativity, Nandagopal, with his infectious energy, was instrumental in procuring sponsorships and funds to expand the gallery and museum at Cholamandal and record the work of these artists.
“Apart from expanding the museum, he worked for the book on ‘50 years of Cholamandal’, and republication of articles from the magazine Art Trends. All of this was because he knew how important it was to document the work of artists and get out to the public,” says M Senathipathi, painter and president of Cholamandal Artists’ Village.
As a sculptor, Nandagopal carved for himself an individual path through his frontal metal pieces that are now on display at museums and public spaces across the country.

Steeped in south Indian temple tradition of bas relief yet following an international language, Nandagopal’s pieces in copper, brass and bronze adhered to the principles of the Madras school in terms of linearity and yet transcended all of his predecessors with its narrative quality.
Borrowing from mythology, legends and epics, the icons of Garuda, Krishna, Hanuman were a recurring trait. Inspired by the everyday, Nandagopal moulded objects like ladles, spoons, hooks and bells to give his work a personal style. Influenced by Joseph James’s idea of ‘symmetry in asymmetry’, straight lines were crucial to the artist’s sharp angular pieces.
A physics graduate, Nandagopal’s creations were a marriage of arts and science. Challenging aesthetics and structure of form, he “would often experiment with T-shaped sculptures and large pieces going up to more than 10 feet. Nationally he was a frontrunner in art, especially in sculpture.
“At a time when most were into round three dimensional pieces, he broke away to make two dimensional sculptures,” says painter K Muralidharan, who adds that he will miss his friend’s restless energy and call every morning to either update him about an international art trend or to push him to start a new work.
Age and experience had made Nandagopal more prolific. In the past three years, the artist, who had always shied away from colour, introduced a dash of green and cool blue enamels in his stories in metal, which were characterised with flaming hues of copper.
In 2015, he went back to painting, the subject he had studied during days at the Government College of Arts. No stranger to innovation, he kept challenging himself.
“Being an artist at the Cholamandal Artists’ Village was never about money. It was a collective search for the soul of young India. Nandagopal was young in his mind and that reflected in his art as well,” says art critic Geeta Doctor.
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