K Laxma Goud Artworks

Born on 21st August 1940 in Nizampur, Andhra Pradesh, Kalal Laxma Goud is a renowned Indian painter, printmaker, and draughtsman.

Laxma Goud Artist Life

K Laxma Goud’s entry into the discipline of art might be considered an accident. As a child who was not good with studies and grades, the doors of streams like science and humanities were already closed for him. This prompted his father to enrol him in an art school in Hyderabad after which there was no looking back for Goud. He completed his diploma in Drawing and Painting from the Government School of Art and Architecture, Hyderabad, in 1963; he then went on to study Mural Painting and Printmaking at the Faculty of Fine Arts at M.S. University, Baroda, from 1963 to 1965.

Laxma Goud Artwork Recognition

Throughout his career, Laxma Goud paintings have been exhibited at several prestigious institutions both within and outside India. For instance, Laxma Goud artworks have been part of group exhibitions held in Mumbai in 2012; New York in 2011-12; Art Musings at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2008; ‘Festival of India’, Geneva, 1987; and Worcester Art Museum, 1986, etc. Goud received the Andhra Pradesh State Lalit Kala Academi awards in 1962, 1966 and 1971. He was honoured by the Government of India with the prestigious Padma Shri in 2016.

Laxma Goud Artwork Style

K Laxma Goud displays a mastery over a range of mediums from printmaking, drawing, watercolour, gouache, and pastels to glass painting and sculpture in bronze and terracotta. Contrasting this versatility in mediums in his oeuvre has been his constant preoccupation with the subject of the erotic. Laxma Goud’s obsession with the erotic can be traced back to his life in the village where he found an absence of taboos and inhibitions about sex, which were so predominant in the urban society where he pursued his education. In his village, he observed people living close together with animals, women abusing each other with plain sexual gestures and words during petty fights, and a lone villager describing his amorous exploits in a song. 

This unriddled sex life in the village finds expression in a diverse array of Laxma Goud sculptures that display explicit portrayal of sexual play without any symbolic undertones; entwined human, animal and nature forms in figuratively cohabiting postures; the invocation of the animus in nocturnal lights; and a subtle, psychological exploration of the male-female relationship tinged with gentle pathos. Influential figures like the collector Jagdish Mittal and the theatre director Ebrahim Alkazi were quick to spot K Laxma Goud’s unique style and talent in his early years. 

When one encounters Laxma Goud artwork’s, rustic, raw, and potent might be the first words that come to mind. His experimentations with depicting the human figure, especially the body of the woman have resulted in captivating works of art. Talking about the centrality of the figure of the woman in his work, he says, “A woman is like the earth, the earth is the personification of the female and no male image is complete without the female. That idea has opened a whole new world before me. If I have to express my view about life, a man, woman and the environment are very important. Myriad moods are conveyed through the imagery of explicitly aroused human beasts, birds, and phallic and vaginal trees rooted amidst intricately stirred foliage.” 

Motifs in K Laxma Goud’s Paintings

The figure of the goat – a traditional symbol of sexuality across cultures – both full-uddered and with erect penises is a signature motif in Laxma Goud paintings. In the work above, the animal with an erect penis and salacious grin appears alongside the reclining nude woman painted in blocks of different colours. In another work, the woman, being caressed by a man, is transformed into a faun-like creature. K Laxma Goud’s depictions of bestiality are difficult to discern but their immediate impact on the viewer is enchanting. 

However, Laxma Goud sculptures are not limited to the expression of the erotic. Some of his most valuable works also include his depictions of mythological figures, for instance, his painting Untitled (Shiv Parivar) portrays the family of the Hindu god Shiva in vivid colours. Similarly, his paintings of figures like Ganesha and Krishna have fetched record prices at auctions. In addition to this, an investment in the rural landscape and its cultural fabric also motivates many of his works. Laxma Goud thanks his mentor, the late K. G. Subramanyam of the Baroda School, for instilling in him a sense of attachment with the indigenous. 

For K Laxma Goud, there is no distinction between life and art. He asserts that to think of his life without art is impossible.

Image Courtesy – DAG

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