An exhibition showcasing paintings of Teevee is under way at Siddhartha Academy auditorium here.
T. Venkat Rao, popularly known as Teevee, displayed his 74 paintings at one-man show organised by Academy of Creative Art, Vijayawada. Many art lovers from the city are turning up to enjoy the refreshing breeze of colours amid the drizzle.
The artist selected wide range of themes and subjects and brought life on canvas. The biggest attraction is be ‘Bharata upakhandam’, a series of paintings on Indian sub continent. Teevee visualised how the sub continent would have been a lakh years ago; 10,000 years ago, Indus valley civilization were some of the stages in that series that spell bound the visitors. Paintings on bio diversity, nature, Khajuraho sculpture was brought onto the canvas, while landscapes in vivid colours were another attraction. “This is my second one-man show in the city. The first show was organised in 2002,” says Teevee.
Of all the paintings, the portrait of Sri Sri has its own history to tell. Sri Sri was in the city in 1982. He visited house of Swathi Balaram. “I drove straight into his residence, and told Sri Sri that I wanted to do his painting,” he said.
It took two –hours for me to bring him onto the canvas. “What would you do with that portrait?, ” Sri Sri asked me out of curiosity. And, I just told him that I would keep it for myself. He smiled away. Those experiences still linger in my mind, he says.
“But, why were your selling it now?” The artist replied, “I never though that I would sell my paintings in my lifetime and I expected that my grandson would sell them.” But, so far I sold away about 10 of my paintings, he said. The exhibition would be on till July 22, and timings are from 10a.m. to 7 p.m.
