M. Suriyamoorthy
BORN: 1944
Mr. Suriyamoorthy (b. 1944-2012) is an artist in a league of his own. He is a one-man movement creating ripples in the art world with a unique process and procedure in place. His colors and pigments are entirely created by him from scratch. For starters, he uses the waters of the holy rivers of India – the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Godavari, the Krishna, and the Cauvery and the Abhishekam waters from various temples for his paintings.
When his father who was a Siddha practitioner passed away, the medicines were falling into disuse. Suriyamoorthy began to mix the various medical ingredients to achieve the colors he wanted. He also ground seashells to derive white, took natural gum and bark from the trees in his garden for other colors. These handmade colors mixed with the waters of the holy rivers and temples that he collects are the only things that make their way into his paintings. His formula for each color took him many years to perfect. His formula pigments, he assures, will retain their qualities of color and brightness for more than half a century.
Suriyamoorthy is also one artist to not have followed any old master or any –isms of the art world. The genuineness of his works leaps out at the viewer and appeals in a way like none other.
He has been a student at Government College of Arts and Crafts (Chennai), has been a State Lalit Kala Academy scholar, National Scholar at the MS University, Baroda, has been a recipient of Senior Fellowship from Department of Culture, Government of India, and Sri SH Daya Fellowship, Mumbai.
He has to his credit more than forty-seven prestigious awards from national and international organizations, international solo and group exhibits. His works are collections at various museums, fine arts academies, and even the archaeological department of Tamil Nadu.