P. Gopinath

 P. Gopinath is renowned for his biomorphic abstract shapes and a warm palette dominated by reds and oranges, making him a prominent figure of the late Madras Movement and a distinguished semi-abstract painter in contemporary South Indian art. Gopinath's early memories of art are filled with watching his grandfather create giant charcoal and chalk drawings and observing the ritualistic kolams drawn for Hindu ceremonies. Unlike in many families, his artistic talent and fascination were recognized and nurtured by his uncle, the artist K.C.S. Paniker. Encouraged to pursue art as a career, Gopinath joined the Government College of Arts & Crafts, where he earned honors such as the State Award in his second year.

Initially influenced by Paniker’s early watercolours and his nativist beliefs, Gopinath explored themes deeply rooted in Indian culture, including the mother archetype, ancient Hindu symbology, and phallic linga forms, along with a variety of traditional and religious literary and visual sources. By the late 1960s, however, he began developing his unique pictorial language, inspired by Madhubani paintings and Pahadi miniatures. These influences led him to experiment with architectural versus pictorial space, using flat colours, tone, sensation, and the organization of shapes, motifs, and biomorphic forms on the canvas.

Gopinath's work often draws on the visual structure of Persian miniatures and classical Indian paintings, reducing them to essential forms that resonate architecturally, such as arches, covings, angles, corners, receding shapes, and foreground obstacles. This careful arrangement of pictorial elements aims to evoke a sense of three-dimensional space or narrative events, a challenge he continues to embrace. Despite his assertion that elements in his paintings come by chance rather than by design, Gopinath's works consistently convey a sense of place and comfort. Viewers often find his abstract shapes and forms mysteriously welcoming, offering a familiar resonance through their arrangement.