S G Vasudev, born in 1941, received recognition as a painter early in his career.
While he was a student of the Government College of Art, Madras, he won the National Award from the All-India Lalit Kala Akademi in 1967. Awards from State Academies of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, besides prestigious Karnataka Rajyotsava Award, Venkatappa Award and Paniker Puraskaram.
Vasudev is a founder-member of the Cholamandal Artists’ Village on the outskirts of Madras (now Chennai) where he lived and worked till 1988. He now lives and works in Bangalore.
Vasudev works in various mediums: Drawings, Paintings, Reliefs in copper, Tapestries in silk and collages. He became well-known for his *”Vriksha”*, Tree of Life series, which evolved over nearly a decade, turning into the Tree of Life and Death in the latter half of the 1980s. He also explored the theme of *“Maithuna”*, Act of Love, through a series of drawings, paintings and copper reliefs. Eventually his tree grew into faces titled *“Humanscapes”* and *“Earthscapes”*. The tree is still sometimes visible in his series titled *“Theatre of Life”* and *“Rhapsody”*.
Vasudev has participated in several important group exhibitions in India and abroad. In addition, he has held solo exhibitions in different parts of India and the world (including the USA, Canada, England and Germany). Exhibitions of his drawings based on the late A.K. Ramanujan’s poetry and translations, titled *“Tribute to Ramanujan”*, have been held in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, London and Chicago.
Vasudev has held two retrospective exhibitions *”Inner Resonance — A Return to Sama”*, of his art works at National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore and Mumbai in 2018.
Vasudev is founder and managing trustee of Arnawaz Vasudev Charities, a non-profit organisation providing financial assistance to young artists and art-related initiatives since 1989. He has helped in establishing Visual Art Department at the Bangalore University, National Gallery of Modern Art Bangalore, Ananya Drishya and Art Park, both, artists’ initiatives.
