C. N. Karunakaran

C. N. Karunakaran (1940 – 14 December 2013) was an Indian painter, illustrator and art director from Kerala. He was the Chairman of the Kerala Lalitakala Academy and a recipient of several honours including the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Award which he won thrice. The Akademi honoured him again with the fellowship in 2005.

Biography C. N. Karunakaran was born in 1940 at Brahmakulam, a village near Guruvayur in Thrissur District of Kerala. He contracted typhoid while he was a child and the complications from the disease crippled him in one of his legs. Through most of his childhood, he was undergoing ayurvedic treatment because of which he could not pursue academic studies. His formal training in art was at the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai where he learned under such as D. P. Roy Choudhury and K. C. S. Paniker to secure two diplomas; one in design and another in advanced painting. In 1970, he shifted his base to Kochi where he became involved with Kerala Kalapeedom (Kerala Institute of Arts). Here, he had the opportunity to interact with a host of like-minded people such as M. V. Devan, Kanayi Kunhiraman, A. C. K. Raja, Namboothiri, K. P. Soman, M. K. K. Nair, C. N. Sreekantan Nair, M. K. Sanu, Pattathuvila Karunakaran, M. Thomas Mathew and T. Ramachandran. Three years later, he founded Chitrakoodam, the first privately owned art gallery in Kerala but the initiative ran only for four years until 1977. He was also involved with Ochre, another private art gallery in Kochi. He also illustrated Lore and Legends of Kerala, the English translation of Aithihyamala, published by Oxford University Press.

Karaunakaran as married to Easwari, and the couple had a son, Ayillyan and a daughter, Ammini.

Legacy the untiring cartographer of female geography… the essence of the subject remains a constant, it is the flavor of the subject that moves to create and recreate, said Tanya Abraham, art critic, on Karanakaran. During his stay in Chennai, he was also involved with the Madras Design Demonstration Centre, a unit of the Government of Tamil Nadu where he assisted the centre in improving the handicrafts business

Karaunakaran's debut in films was in 1978 when he designed the production of Ekakini, directed by G. S. Panicker. The next year, when K. R. Mohanan made his debut film, Ashwadhamavu, Karunakaran started his career as an art director, in which he also played a small part. He went on to work for four more films, Akkare (1984) of K. N. Sasidharan, Purushartham (1986) of K. R. Mohanan, Ore Thooval Pakshikal (1988) of Chintha Ravi and Alicinte Anveshanam (1989) of T. V. Chandran.

Awards and honours His performance during his student years at the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai earned him the gold medal of the Government of Madras for the best outgoing student in 1956. Akademi honoured him again in 2009, with Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram, their highest award. Artist Sathypal, the former chairman of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi, has published a book, Mythic Imagination: Art of C.N. Karunakaran, which covers Karaunakaran's work from 1950s to 2011.

Filmography As art director

Ashwadhamavu (1979) Akkare (1984) Purushartham (1986) Ore Thooval Pakshikal (1988) Alicinte Anveshanam (1989)

As designer Ekakini (1978)

As actor Ashwadhamavu (1979)

Solo exhibitions C. N. Karunakaran at Vidyarangam State Sahityolsavam, Alwaye The following is the list of his solo exhibitions of paintings.

Madras - 1968, 1975 & 1993 Kochi - 1970, 1984, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 & 2005 Calicut - 1973, 1993 & 1998 Thiruvananthapuram - 1995, 1996, 1998 & 2000 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai - 1996, 2000 & 2005 Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai - 1997 & 2000 The Gallery Leela, Mumbai - 1997 ABC Art Gallery, Varanasi - 1999 Galeria Ralino, Goa - 1999 Art Konsult Gallery, New Delhi - 2000 Nehru Centre, Mumbai-2001, 2004 Kottayam- 2001 Thrissur- 2001 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 2002 Paraty, Brazil- 2002 São Paulo, Brazil - 2002 Brasília, Brazil - 2002 Embassy of India Washington DC, USA - 2003 Adithi Indian Cuisine, Washington DC, USA - 2003 Asian Art Gallery, Vienna - 2003 Kuwait City - 2003 Travancore Gallery, New Delhi - 2006