G Subramanian grew up in a village in coastal Tamil Nadu amidst folk performers and theatre troupes. His father was a stage artist, and this early exposure to make-up, costumes, screens and props shaped his unique, dramatic aesthetic vision. ... Fondly known as ‘Subra’, he is famed for his mixed-media works in which he uses the medium of collage, deftly layering them with acrylic paints and ink washes in brilliant hues to create distinctively striking artworks. Each work is brimming with purposeful textures, such that the viewer would “not only understand the emotion behind it, but … also feel it.” Steeped in symbolism and spiritual text, the subject of these boldly coloured works are often the gods and demigods of Hindu mythology, recast as playful, free-spirited and childlike beings. Subra teases viewers to look beyond the playful charm of his works towards deeper emotional and formal engagements.

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