50 faces of Kalam to greet all at memorial

The memorial, which has been constructed at a cost of Rs 15 crore, has a host of features, including Kalam’s memorabilia on display. To make it an unforgettable experience for visitors, the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) had roped in a team of 12 painters to produce the best representations of Kalam to be placed in the memorial. 

The team decided to make 95 paintings. The size of the canvases varies between four and 18 ft. The artists worked for over two months and the project was completed at a cost of Rs 70 lakh.

AP Shreethar, a renowned painter from Chennai, heads the team. He first did a 3D painting at Kalam’s house on the former President’s death anniversary in 2016. Speaking to DTNext , Shreethar said that all the art work was done in the ‘vintage’ method, generally associated with paintings in larger museums like the one in London. 

“We used acrylic paint in our paintings and imported frames from South Korea to safeguard them from the weather. We minimised usage of metals in them and left a 0.5 inch gap between the paintings and the glass used over to cover them so as to prevent damage,” he said. 

The most attractive and largest of the lot is the ‘50 face Kalam’ painting. The team drew inspiration from 50 different art styles of renowned artists, including Rembrandt and Da Vinci, to create the oneof-a-kind picture.