Artist profile · Saraswati Foundation
K. Murlidharan
A Chennai-based painter whose mythic and folkloric imagery draws on memory, tradition and modernist experiment.
Biography
Born in 1954, K. Murlidharan lives and works in Chennai. He studied painting at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, completing a diploma and post-diploma in 1978. Guest-artist opportunities at the Stockholm College of Art and the Glasgow School of Art broadened his practice and brought him into contact with varied visual traditions.
Murlidharan’s paintings often bring Indian myth, folklore and everyday experience into carefully composed pictorial spaces. His imagery combines a serious engagement with tradition and a playful, sometimes surreal sensibility. The Sahapedia profile notes his interest in inherited visual forms and designed surfaces.
Awards & Honours
- National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, 1994
- Government of India Senior Fellowship, 1997–1999
- Charles Wallace Trust scholarship for study in Scotland, 1993
- All India Exhibition Awards, 1985 and 1987
Exhibitions & Residencies
- Tales, Myth & Time, Galerie 88, Kolkata, 2006
- Traveling solo exhibition, Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi, 1997
- Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, 1993
- Stockholm College of Arts, Sweden, 1989
- Mauritius Biennale, 2005; Bangladesh Biennale, 2004; Singapore Art Festival, 2003
- Rimbaud ’91, Alliance Française de Madras, Chennai; touring exhibition in India and France, 1991
Selected Works
Research
Sahapedia artist profile · Saffronart biography, exhibitions and awards · Aakriti Art Gallery profile and exhibition history
Artist profile · Saraswati Foundation
K. Murlidharan
A Chennai-based painter whose mythic and folkloric imagery draws on memory, tradition and modernist experiment.
Biography
Born in 1954, K. Murlidharan lives and works in Chennai. He studied painting at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, completing a diploma and post-diploma in 1978. Guest-artist opportunities at the Stockholm College of Art and the Glasgow School of Art broadened his practice and brought him into contact with varied visual traditions.
Murlidharan’s paintings often bring Indian myth, folklore and everyday experience into carefully composed pictorial spaces. His imagery combines a serious engagement with tradition and a playful, sometimes surreal sensibility. The Sahapedia profile notes his interest in inherited visual forms and designed surfaces.
Awards & Honours
- National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, 1994
- Government of India Senior Fellowship, 1997–1999
- Charles Wallace Trust scholarship for study in Scotland, 1993
- All India Exhibition Awards, 1985 and 1987
Exhibitions & Residencies
- Tales, Myth & Time, Galerie 88, Kolkata, 2006
- Traveling solo exhibition, Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi, 1997
- Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, 1993
- Stockholm College of Arts, Sweden, 1989
- Mauritius Biennale, 2005; Bangladesh Biennale, 2004; Singapore Art Festival, 2003
- Rimbaud ’91, Alliance Française de Madras, Chennai; touring exhibition in India and France, 1991
Selected Works
Research
Sahapedia artist profile · Saffronart biography, exhibitions and awards · Aakriti Art Gallery profile and exhibition history