Thota Vaikuntam
Thota Vaikuntam (born 1942) is an Indian painter. His paintings capture simple lifestyle of villagers like the paddy fields, toddy pots on shoulders of men, the household chores, temple rituals etc. His drawings range from stark charcoal on paper, transparent washes and pencil drawings. Vaikuntam was born in Burugupalli, Karimnagar District, Telangana. His father used to run a grocery shop. He studied at the College Of Fine arts and Architecture, Hyderabad and Painting and Printmaking, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirrao University of Baroda (on a Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship from Andhra Pradesh). He was under the tutelage of K.G. Subramanyan at Baroda. The love for women in his paintings can be traced back to his childhood fascination of the impersonations of women characters by the male artists of the theatre groups performing in his village.
The artist had his first solo exhibition in 1954 in Kolkata, and has since exhibited widely across the world including at venues like the Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Paris; Piccadilly Gallery, London; Galerie Doucet et Coutureau, Paris; Galleria Nuovo Sagittario, Milan; and Galerie Sagar, Zurich.
Burman has participated in several shows, some of the most recent including The Beholder’s Share by Jehangir Art Gallery and Art Musings in Mumbai in 2016; A Private Universe by Art Alive Gallery in New Delhi in 2015; Rituals and Reasons: Invoking the Sensual in Art, at Apparao Galleries in Chennai in 2014; The Wonder of it All, a retrospective exhibition by Pundole Art Gallery and Apparao Galleries in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in 2012, Archetype and Enraputured Gaze at Aicon Gallery in London and New York in 2009; Faces of Indian Art organised by Art Alive at the Visual Art Gallery, New Delhi; Understanding Oneness in Diversity at Kitab Mahal, Mumbai; An Evening in Paris …Rome…London at Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata; and Resonance organised by Art Musings at Museum Gallery, Mumbai, all in 2007.
Burman was awarded the Medaille d’Argent au Salon de Montmorency and the Prix des Etrangers, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris in 1956.
