The artist Unnikrishnan C and the opportunity in which he built his dream

More often than not, rags-to-riches stories leave readers inspired, but in the case of artist Unnikrishnan C, stronger emotions are aroused. Hailing from Nemmara in Kerala’s Palakkad, the artist exhibits his works and those painted by his mother, Devu Nenmara, at the city’s Sumukha Gallery, and how they got there is nothing short of incredible.

“I was always good at art. That was something I knew about myself when I was in Class I, but I never thought it could be a life choice,” says Unnikrishnan, speaking from his home in Kerala. For the son of day laborers, a career in the creative field was out of the question. Unnikrishnan admits that he was in high school even before he heard about a Fine Arts course.

“It was my art teacher Sushma Devi who saw my potential and urged me to pursue Fine Arts. He had graduated in Fine Arts and would share what he had learned. That fueled my desire to study the same, but my parents did not support this idea and I don’t blame them because I wasn’t good at any school subject except art. Also, in my family, none of us had studied beyond class X.”

Unnikrishnan may also have dropped out of high school if a class XII certificate was not one of the criteria for enrolling in Fine Arts, which he eventually did at the Government Fine Arts College in Thrissur. “Honestly, I didn’t really want to study, but the desire to join a Fine Arts course and become an artist kept me going,” he says, adding that when he got 10th place in the entrance exam that year, there was no way of looking. back thereafter.

Throughout his studies, Unnikrishnan would supplement the family income by taking on manual jobs. He remembers how, during a semester break, he returned home overwhelmed by the family’s struggles. “I felt like the walls were closing in on me to listen to me spill my problems and assimilate them. From that day on I began to paint each brick until by the time I reached the last year the inside of our house was covered. with works of art.”

Unnikrishnan says he shared this with his mentor, Kavita Balakrishnan, who taught art history at the university and she included this work as a video for an exhibition she was holding in Chennai. He replicated a comparable work in college as part of his final year evaluation, where it was appreciated by Jitish Kallat and Bose Krishnamachari, who included it in the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2014.

He was one of the youngest artists presented at the Biennale that year and that turned out to be the turning point in Unnikrishnan’s life. His works at the Kochi Biennale earned him an invitation to the Sharjah Biennale in 2015 and so on until he had his first private exhibition in Switzerland presented by art collector Richard Bloom in 2018.

home Sweet Home

Devu watched all of these events unfold in her son’s life, first with a sense of apprehension followed by acceptance and, much later, understanding. “At first I wondered what my son would gain from studying art, if it would benefit him in any way, but I was also glad that he had found something that made him happy. It makes no sense to force a child to study what he or she is not interested in. His teacher was also quite sure of his talent and encouraged me,” says Devu, 62.

Unnikrishnan had opened a small studio in his hometown to continue his artistic practice and also give underprivileged children a space to explore their creativity. During the pandemic, she shared her paintings with family members, urging them to paint to distract themselves from the uncertainty ahead.

A work by Unnikrishnan C | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

“That’s when my mom started drawing a little; In the afternoons, when I returned home from work, he would watch me paint,” he remembers.

“Art supplies are hard to come by and I had saved some dried gouache paints to use later. My mother found them, softened them with water and started painting on paper. At first I thought it was a passing curiosity, but then he started working regularly on creating something, once the day’s work was done.”

“I never knew she could draw and I was excited to see her at work. Before I knew it, she was creating larger works and I could see that she was narrating the stories of her life through them,” he says, adding that her abundant use of colors reflected her emotions.

“I was happy that he was by my side and we painted together,” says Devu, who adds that Unnikrishnan did not interfere with his way of working.

“Whether it is my mother or my students, I believe that art cannot be taught. It comes from within and the only thing we can do is give it an opportunity, a situation for it to express itself,” says the 35-year-old artist.

I, Amma, We

While Unnikrishnan was in talks with Gallery Sumukha for his exhibition, he did not tell his mother that he intended to include her works as well. “I wanted him to paint like he always did, having fun without any obstacles or restrictions.”

However, when I, Amma opened in Sumukha, Devu was present. It was his second trip outside Kerala; the first was for one of Unnikrishnan’s exhibitions in Hyderabad in late 2024. Needless to say, he was overjoyed to see his works mounted on the walls of a gallery.

A work by Devu Nenmara | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

While Unnikrishnan prefers gouache paints, Devu uses acrylic, which is a quick-drying medium, something he needs amidst his busy schedule.

Visitors to the show will see that earth tones and agrarian settings dominate Unnikrishnan’s work, while Devu’s canvases are marked by an explosion of color that almost seems joyfully impulsive. Grain spread out to dry on mats, brick wall backdrops, and similar scenes share the walls with forest scenes where the foliage is a reflection of the Creator’s palette.

Me, Amma, We will be on display at Sumukha Gallery until January 11, 2025.