Sam Adaikalasamy at Pallava Artist Village.
About Me
Sam Adaikalasamy was born in Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu and then his parents took him with them to Malaysia. Sam’s artistic journey began even when he was in school. He had taught himself to paint and was often in the company of artists and art directors.
Sam initially was doing realistic work and was much appreciated in his school and also
outside when he took part in some exhibitions. Emboldened by this appreciation he
approached a gallery owner in Kuala Lumpur when he was studying in 9 th class and
requested him to organise an exhibition of his paintings. But the owner advised him to
study painting as he could see the young man was very talented. This impelled Sam to
make the major move in his life when he decided to go to South India and join the School of Arts and Crafts in Kumbakonam. There were no art institutions in Malaysia; one had to go either to Singapore or some other western country to study art. In fact quite a few youngsters had gone to India.
At the age of 20 when Sam came to Kumbakonam, eminent artist S. Dhanapal was the
principal at the School, who welcomed him with open arms like a father, which made
Sam feel as if India itself was embracing him. He felt as if the School and fellow students
were his home and his family. He was fascinated by the huge South Indian temples built
with granite, particularly the architecture, and the ancient philosophy etc. that he came
across in India. “Here there was more history while in Malaysia it was mainly nature”.
The culture in Malaysia was a mixed one of Chinese, Indian and Western; he did get
ideas from them in his art, but after coming here he did not want to separate them but
blend them with the Indian culture.
Sam was in Kumbakonam only for two years; when Dhanapal retired he also left. He felt
he did not get proper guidance there after Dhanapal. His curiosity in seeing other parts of India even as he continued his studies took him to the M.S. University, Baroda; he joined the Fine Arts Department there once again in the first year, as this was a university and the Kumbakonam institution was known only as a School of Arts then. Sam considered himself lucky that the highly acclaimed artist K.G. Subramaniam was then the principal there. His lectures used to fascinate him. “My teacher Ms Naseeruddin taught me to draw; she showed me the way to grow; she taught me to go out into nature and look at things as different forms and draw; she taught me to observe the varied textures in nature such as the barks, leaves etc. That is how textures entered my work”.
In one of his paintings Buddha is represented by a flower. Zen philosophy is deeply entrenched in his thoughts. But it is not just trees and flowers, but there are hills, sand,
wilderness, the sun, the sky… “We call the earth as ‘mother’ and it is ‘she’ who holds us, supports us. Zen Buddhism signifies living with nature”. This interest could have had its roots in his childhood and boyhood spent in Malaysia where Buddhism has been one of
the religions. “It is not I have studied the religion, it is only what I have felt through observation”.
Image Gallery
