The man who transformed Cholamandal

I moved to Cholamandal Artists’ Village in 1966, after completing my studies at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai. It was in 1972 that Nandagopal came to Cholamandal to live with us, as one of our contemporaries. The idea of Cholamandal came when Nandagopal’s father, the famous KCS Paniker, saw many art students taking up work in other areas such as the film industry or as art teachers or in the medical arena as sketching experts. The idea was for artists to live and work together, make a living while pushing creative boundaries. For all of us, Paniker was our guru. 

While Paniker founded Cholamandal, his son Nandagopal took this concept to another level, transforming it into a contemporary commune. Be it the open-air theatre or the Museum of the Madras Art Movement, Nandagopal undertook the task of collecting funds – not only from various sponsors but also artists themselves, who have been living here since inception. He would convince the artists to donate, for the betterment of Cholamandal. 

Nandagopal and I had served in the Committee, where I noticed that once he takes up a task, he will not rest until it is done. There is a lot of zeal, when he decides to take up a project. During one of our committee meetings, we had the idea of documenting the history of the village. Nandagopal set about the task and was involved throughout the procedure, which finally resulted in a tome titled ‘Cholamandal: An Artists’ Village’. 

As an artist, Nandagopal was a hard worker. He took immense pain, often working long hours to complete his sculptures. He was one of  the important artists of the Madras Art Movement. He often enjoyed working on large sculptures, on themes from mythology. I really liked his sculptures depicting Garuda and Krishna. 

A helpful soul, he went out of his way to develop Cholamandal – organising national and international art camps, art-related events and exhibitions. He would encourage the young artists to showcase their work. His enthusiasm was infectious and he should be credited for transforming Cholamandal. Art was Nandagopal’s life – if he’s not working on his sculptures, he would be sketching or painting. His demise is a huge loss for all of us.