The many aspects that make one a good artist may not be strong reasons to make him time transcending. Only a very few artists acquire this quality. Athipatta Sivaraman Nair pen named as A S Nair, was one among this talented few. Born at Karalmanna in Palakkad district, Sivaraman’s extra ordinary talent in drawing was noticed by his patron Thrikkideeri Vasudevan Namboothiri and consequently he was sent to the Madras School of Arts for higher studies. Having worked at many prominent dailies as cartoonist and illustrator, A S Nair died at the age of 52 in 1988. Some of his works have been exhibited at Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy Art Gallery in Kozhikode. “A S Nair and I have worked together for many years. I feel it’s a privilege to work with such a great artist. He would give attention to minute details. His innate craving for perfection would make him spend hours with a work, modifying and remaking it. He was a man of perfection,” remembers artist J R Prasad who is conducting the exhibition at the art gallery.
“What made him beloved among the readers of the many stories and novels for which A S Nair crafted illustrations was the very skill he exhibited to complete the narration along with the story. The story as well as the illustrations were complementary to each other. This produced many admirers for his works among the writers,” artist Prasad said.
Among the exhibits include the illustrations he had done for many short stories and series of noted writers such as M T Vasudevan Nair, Mukundan, Sethu, Thakazhi and Basheer that appeared in Mathrubhoomi weekly magazine. The works he did for V S Khandekar’s Yayati have also been exhibited. “He had made use of some unique style for Yayati. The figures look like the ones in shadow puppetry. The artistic tact he put in this works was just amazing and it was quite difficult for others to reproduce,” said Prasad.
Benzir Ul Hashim, a new age artist who had come to see the works of A S Nair, was standing adjacent to the Yayati works gazing at the images. “These pictures are wonderful. I was just wondering about the imagination level and creativity of the artist who crafted this,” he said.
