On summer break, while pursuing BSc in Home Science, young M J Kamalakshi, came across an art camp near her house in Malleswaram, Bengaluru in 1966. This camp, organised by the Chitrakala Vidyalaya in a small room on the first floor of Gandhi Sahitya Sangha, was where she embarked on her journey as an artist.
It is Chitrakala Vidyalaya that eventually became Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, one of the premier institutes for art in the country. MJK, as she is fondly called, was a summer camp student of this institute, and whilst pursuing BSc course, she enrolled to pursue art. Among a handful of girl students, she received a Diploma in Fine Arts and went on to start teaching at the college in 1971. She became principal there and executive member, joint secretary, general secretary, vice president and finally founder trustee of the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath.
MJK was a part of the Chitra Kala Parishath right from its inception. She was also the President of Karnataka Lalithakala Academy and a member of various art and social clubs.
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The network
MJK is an artist who mixed and mingled with some of the finest artists of the time. Including Svetoslav Roerich, Rumale Channabasavaiah, Nanjunda Rao, M F Hussain, K K Hebbar to name a few. The artist says that she was blessed to be around the peak of the art revolution that was taking place in the country. This revolution also shaped her artistic journey.
When she started painting, MJK chose to portray fine art landscapes and portraits. During her work with CKP, she was closely associated with collecting and documenting traditional Mysore paintings and Tanjore Paintings from across the state.
Hence, she started painting these. During her scholarship in Baroda, artist-teacher KG Subramanyan asked MJK, “Do you think if you put oil on canvas only then you are an artist?” This convinced her to combine traditional and contemporary styles in her new series of works.
Her paintings involved figure forms in oil paints, laced with a traditional touch of gesso work (of golden ornaments), just like Mysore or Tanjore paintings. She moved towards a modernist-abstract style, playing with colours. Her paintings titled ‘Night Train’, ‘Pushkarani’, ‘Through the Fire’, are some examples of her experiments with formlessness, with textures and bold colour schemes taking prominence.
MJK did not shy away from working with different media. Whether it is her work with terracotta, leather puppetry and sand-casting, she did not hesitate from trying something new. As a teacher, she believes that it is important to preserve the curiosity to learn, explore and interact with different media and artists. Her experience with applied art, sculpting, printmaking and art history, all played an important role in shaping her style. She thinks that all mediums are interconnected.
She credits her knowledge and inspiration to the who’s who of the art world, who would frequent CKP, her project tours and her students.
MJK was the fourth child, of eight siblings to Jayaram Gowda and Subhadramma. After her Diploma in Fine Arts, she completed a Master of Arts degree from Mysore University. She has travelled to the UK, USA, Japan, and Russia on assignments.
MJK has received numerous awards and honours for her work. Her first exhibition was in 1967 and till 2021, she has presented her work in various cities.
At 80, she still visits CKP, where she started her journey. On campus, every space was inspirational. She painted in the gallery halls, classrooms, under the lush green trees or the huts. The artist says that she could not think of a spot where she did not paint. MKJ continues to put oil on canvas in her house in Malleswaram, surrounded by a number of lifesize paintings.