K. Madhava Menon

These are the works of a painter who lived among us with strong convictions of artistic beauty. He believed that the modernity's savagery on image making in 20th century had nothing to do with the 'oriental' spirit he adhered sincerely to. This inevitably had led him to take ardently anti-modern and hence alienated position through out in life. Neither Indian Art world nor the cultural bandwagons of Kerala gave due attention to this artistic genius. It seems very surprising for an artist to lead a life of such 'classical' convictions all against the tidal waves of one century long tradition of 'modern' art.

A.S.Raman, noted art critic during 1950s and 1960s, writes in a monograph on him: "his is a neat well-integrated world of beauty, peace and sanity where man is in perfect harmony with nature which in turn remains clean, green and serene so that he rests quietly in her lap and thinks his noblest thoughts, sings his sweetest songs, writes his greatest poems and paints his finest pictures. He is a rebel with poetry in his heart. No wonder that he does not care for what others think of his militant conservative views. In fact few artists of his generation have his courage, conscientiousness and combativeness with which he calls a spade a spade. He unmasks modernity to show what a monstrosity it is.

Menon's love of Nature, which is indeed his magnificent obsession, is what puts life into his pictures. He is particularly fond of flowers, birds and trees which he studies minutely and intensely. He is a great birdwatcher. When he does not paint birds, he plays with them. He talks to them. He listens to them. In fact he spends most of his time with them in his large, sprawling garden full of coconut palms and mango trees. Birds can be seen perching on his shoulders listening intently to his music on the flute."

(courtesy: Kavitha Balakrishnan)