This gutsy Chennai painter is taking on the world with her figurative art

After finishing her MBA, she took up a job that allowed her to work from home and rediscover her passion for art. “I started following the works of several international artists like Vladimir Volegov (Russian), Jeremy Lipking (American) and Serge Marshennikov (Russian), who specialise in figurative art. I wanted to also practise their ways of bringing human figures alive through paintings,” recalls 32-year-old Ramya speaking to DT Next.

The tradition of figurative art, which saw its peak during the 18th and 19th centuries, is based on real life, including humans, objects and landscapes. It was, however, in the 16th century that this tradition saw a nude female as a subject, inspiring several artists across the world to discover art in nudity.

“Nude art challenged me to achieve the right skin tones of people, which is very painstaking. I saw it only as an art study, but nothing controversial. I, however, did not foresee the kind of abuses I received online when I shared my work,” the self-taught painter admits.

With at least four days of labour going into getting the skin tone right in a figurative art, Ramya’s art initially began with portraying Caucasian women and then moved onto Indian women. 

Her portraits depict women in their most natural elements — while one woman breastfeeds her infant, another is comforting her child or kneading the dough or just graciously lost in thoughts. “Each of the art works depicts that women don’t have to comply with the societal standards in their bodily appearance, like being ‘size zero’, which force unrealistic expectations on women,” she elaborates.

Notwithstanding the abusive criticism on online fora, Ramya continued with her art. “I made sure I retaliated to each one hurling abuses at me to make them see my view. People were offended by the nudity largely because it remains a taboo in our country, just as in most other parts of the world. 

While the purpose of a woman’s breasts remains to feed her child, showing them in their natural form still makes the society frown. The number of artists who practise figurative art, particularly the kind that uses nudism, is abysmal in our country. Many artists, particularly male, shy away from being associated with this form of art, fearing judgment by the conservative minds,” laments Ramya.

Many galleries in the city continue to be old-school with their repulsion towards realistic art and favouring abstract works largely, the artist notes. Having faced rejections from several art galleries as she started off, she managed to exhibit her work at shows in Mumbai and other cities. Ramya even went on to win national awards and recognition over the decade she has been practising art. From winning the Prafulla Dahanukar Award in 2016 as ‘Tamil Nadu Best Artist 2016’, she was also nominated for the Camlin National Award, among others.

“I encourage everyone who wants to take up art full time. But I warn them of the struggles and rejections they may have to face in proving their worth to the world,” concludes Ramya, who now also holds art classes in the city when she takes time off from bringing her artistic muses to life.