KOCHI: Some people are born artists. Karnataka-based Baburao Nadoni is one such example. One look at the portraits he is doing is enough to know that your profile is in good hands.
The artist who is participating in the 10-day mega art and cultural worshop ‘Samanwaya’ in Kochi has been making portraits since a young age. He has been doing this for the past 30 years. At the cultural fest, he is doing on-spot portraits of transgenders.
His passion for art began when he was in Class III. So good he was at his work that he had even conducted a solo show at that age. The artist says portrait-making requires special talent as it requires a lot of observation. Baburao fell in love with the method owing because it required a lot of perfection. “ Making portraits is figurative. The facial details have to be studied in detail,” said Baburao. The portrait of Kannada poet G S Shivarudrappa is among his best works.
At Samanwaya, the artist makes use of oil pastel colours which lends a live look to the portrait. “One portrait takes at least 20 minutes to finish. Everyday I have been doing eight portraits of transgenders,” he said.Baburao is all praise for the organisers and says “ By conductng exhibitions like this T A Sathyapal, the chairman of Lalitha Kala Academi has tried to portray talents which had remained hidden among the transgender community.”
For his masterpieces, this artist has got five National awards- Lokamanya tilak National Award Pune in 2010, Basav Ratna National Award Bijapur in 2011, Shikshak Vikas Ratna National Award Goa in 2014, Buddha-Basava-Bharatratna National Award Bengaluru in 2008 and South Central Zone Culture Centre Nagpur in 2004.He has also done many art shows in places like Goa and Pune.
Presently, he works as an art teacher at Belgaum University.