K Laxma Goud Drawings and Intaglios, Curatorial Advisor by Nanak Ganguly

Laxma Goud is a master artist who has carefree explored the erotic in his art while placing it within the normal as well as the rustic. A printmaker and draughtsman painter as well, he has received several accolades, having been presented with the Padma Shri in 2016, and the Prafulla Dahanukar Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2015.

Born in Nizampur in 1940, Laxma Goud derives inspiration from his childhood years in rural Andhra Pradesh, India, working with a variety of mediums including etching, gouache, pastel, sculpture, and glass painting. He grew up watching traditional leather puppetry and terracotta works, and the relaxed environs of his childhood with its unbridled vivacity permeated into him, eventually being translated into art on canvas. In 1963, he received his diploma from the Government College of Art and Architecture in Hyderabad, going on to study mural painting and printmaking at M.S. University, Baroda, from 1963 to 1965. But he then made a return to Nizampur, and this return had a huge impact on his art.

In his own words about this exhibition, “Drawing has come as a sustainable tool in my creative pursuit, a singular line has umpteen nuances realizing my imaginations. Drawing alone has driven me towards a fertile imagination, and drawing is the source of my metamorphosis.

The element of my drawing is not confined to a singularity in my art practices; on the contrary, it has facilitated me to be highly versatile. For me, drawing is like a magic wand. This very passion for drawing has given me the strength of holding a sharp metal tool to make an engraving line onto a metal plate, while I am simultaneously drawing on paper. These decades of practice have made me confront difficulties in finding a place for myself and my work.

As an individual, I have not compromised with the value judgments of the outside world. I am passionately engaged with my drawing and making Intaglio Prints every day.”

Goud was impressed by the humor and earthy vitality of the villagers, bereft of any trace of self-consciousness. The close-knit society, and the intimacy with animals, fields, and farms, fostered in him a sense of harmonious unity. He captures these elements of intimacy in his paintings with a sense of humor, transforming his characters from man into a goat, and goat into woman, with men and women peering lustfully at each other. He also places them within a landscape that is typically lush and wild, where men and women are clad in vivid clothes, bejeweled in traditional tribal ornaments, shape-shifting into the surroundings and each other. Depicting the daily lives of village folk all over India, Goud’s paintings have an element of fantasy to them, tempered by an underlying libidinal force, that echoes his words – “there is eroticism in nature itself.”

Deeply nostalgic and surreal, Goud’s works of art portray several unique ways of life that are threatened by an onslaught of urbanization. In this endeavor, Goud has experimented with various types of media, from traditional oils to watercolor, pen, ink, colored pencil, and etchings in his two-dimensional work, to a series of bronze and terracotta sculptures he produced near the turn of the millennium. For instance, the essence of nostalgia is captured in his smaller paintings of village existence, painted in monochrome greys. Later, as color became more important in his art, the new thirst for color pushed Laxma towards reverse painting on glass. K.G. Subramanyan, Laxma’s mentor, was one of the first to experiment with reverse painting, adapting it to available pigments and transparent surfaces, including plastics. With his deep fascination and penchant for technique, Laxma found himself enthralled by the process. He also shares a fondness for printmaking and has played a significant role in its expansion, especially in etchings and aquatints. Today, his incisiveness, hatched lines, and versatility, have become characteristic parts of his trademark style. In his later life, he started experimenting with mural making and clay sculpting, as well.

Currently living and working in Hyderabad, India, Laxma Goud has had several solo shows throughout his career, and has remained prolific in his creations.