“I am not merely passionate about painting but for me it is a means to attain perfection and I enjoy the spiritual dimension in it," says Anand, a dexterous artist who creates wonders in both Mysore traditional and Tanjore style of paintings by using water and oil paintings.
39-year-old artist MS Anand started his career as a commercial painter, he later, switched over to the traditional Mysore style painting as he noticed the art was gradually vanishing with very few practicing it. He has mastered it's technique and style so perfectly that he has even begun to experiment with it expressing his new ideas but always remaining within the boundaries of tradition. He uses 22K gold foil for his paintings.
After completing Bachelor in Fine Arts at CAVA, he has did diploma in Tanjore style of painting at Chettinadu and thereafter he learnt Mysore traditional painting at Chennai Ashram. Having made up his mind to popularize traditional Mysore style painting, he has completely dedicated himself on it for the past 16 years. His paintings have already won seven Dasara awards and several State awards.
According to Anand, painting in the Mysore style is still done today abiding by the rules and customs being followed since decades, like for example, most artists don't dare to paint eye lashes in their paintings for fear of violating the tradition. But Anand stands apart from the rest, creating his own style, by painting smiling faces with eye lashes in all his paintings.
He has a number of students from abroad coming from England, USA, Yugoslavia, Scotland, Australia, Japan and Thailand learning the miniature style of Mysore and Tanjore paintings at his residence located on Kshetraiah Road in KR Mohalla. So far Anand has taught more than 600 students and feels happy to pass on his knowledge to others.
After learning the art in a span of just 40 days, most of his foreign students have purchased two to three paintings to carry it back to their country, says Anand who has sold around 1200 paintings so far. The size of the painting starts from 12x15cm to a maximum of 24x30cm.
Most of his paintings are of Gods and Goddesses like Ganesha, Shiva, Radha Krishna, Venkateshwara, Durga, among which is also a portrait of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. His master piece works are Vamana Avatar and Virata Vishwaroopa.
He is also good in photography. So far he has auctioned about 300 paintings and has donated the proceeds to NGO. Apart this, he holds free training camps and dreams of making life-size paintings. Anand is assisted by his wife Devi in the embossing works.
"Mysore traditional paintings are in great demand in places like Mumbai and Tanjore. But unfortunately the art is vanishing in Mysore. Government should recruit teachers to teach the dying art,' says Anand.
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