PADMASHRI KALAMANDALAM GOPI PADMA SHRI KALAMANDALAM GOPI IS A KATHAKALI ARTISTE FROM KERALA, SOUTHERN INDIA, CELEBRATED FOR HIS SEMINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE AESTHETICS AND POPULARITY OF THE CLASSICAL DANCE-DRAMA ACROSS THE WORLD. WITH A HAPPY BLEND OF THE SOLID BODY GRAMMAR OF THE HIGHLY STYLISED KALLUVAZHI TRADITION IN WHICH HE WAS GROOMED AND THE MORE FLEXIBLE, PART-REALISTIC, EMOTION-LADEN SOUTHERN STYLE TECHNIQUES HE ACQUIRED LATER IN HIS CAREER, GOPI HAS WON MASSIVE AUDIENCE APPRECIATION IN KERALA AND ELSEWHERE REGARDLESS OF ONE'S AESTHETIC CHOICES AND BIASES. TALL, CHIRPY GOPIYASAN, AS HE IS FONDLY CALLED BY FANS, IS RENOWNED FOR THE ROMANTIC AND DRAMATIC PORTRAYAL OF THE VIRTUOUS PACHCHA ROLES IN KATHAKALI, NOTABLE AMONG THEM BEING NALAN, KARNAN AND RUKMANGADAN. HE IS EQUALLY ADEPT IN ESSAYING THE CHOREOGRAPHICALLY DENSER ROLES LIKE BHEEMAN (IN THE STORIES KALYANASOUGANDHIKAM OR BAKAVADHAM), ARJUNA (SUBHADRAHARANAM) AND DHARMAPUTRAR (THAT'S YUDHISHTHIRA IN KIRMEERAVADHAM). GOPI, A PADMA SHRI AWARDEE, ALSO EXCELS IN THE YELLOW-FACED PAZHUPPU ROLES SUCH AS BALABHADRA, AND HAS OF LATE ALSO BRANCHED OUT TO PORTRAY VARIETY ROLES LIKE THE ANTI-HEROIC KATHI (LIKE RAVANA, KEECHAKA AND DURYODHANA) BLACK-BEARDED KAATALAN (KIRATHAM), RED-BEARDED BALI (BALIVIJAYAM) AND EVEN THE SEMI-REALISTIC LOOKING BRAHMANAN IN SANTANAGOPALAM. THE 1937-BORN GOPI, A SENIOR DISCIPLE OF PADMA BHUSHAN KALAMANDALAM RAMANKUTTY NAIR AND THE LATE KALAMANDALAM PADMANABHAN NAIR BESIDES PADMA SHRI KEEZHPADAM KUMARAN NAIR, HAD HIS TRAINING IN KATHAKALI FROM KERALA KALAMANDALAM NEAR SHORANUR. BEFORE THAT, HE HAD A BRIEF CAREER AS A PRACTITIONER OF THE MORE FOLKSY OTTAMTHULLAL, THE SOLO DANCE FORM WITH LYRICS BY THE LEGENDARY KUNCHAN NAMBIAR, A PATHBREAKING SATIRIST POET. THAT STINT WAS FOLLOWED BY HIS INITIATION INTO KATHAKALI BY A LEADING GURU CALLED THEKKINKATTIL RAMUNNI NAIR AT THE KOODALLUR MANA (A MANSION OF AN UPPER-CASTE NAMBOODIRI FAMILY) NEAR GOPI'S NATIVE KOTHACHIRA VILLAGE IN THE CUSP OF THRISSUR AND PALAKKAD DISTRICTS. AS A TEENAGER ITSELF, GOPI, WHOSE REAL NAME IS VADAKKE MANALATH GOVINDAN NAIR, WAS NOTICED AS A PROMISING STUDENT, AND HE DIDN'T BELIE EXPECTATIONS. (THE STORY GOES THAT KALAMANDALAM CO-FOUNDER, POET VALLATHOL NARAYANA MENON, WAS SO IMPRESSED WITH GOPI'S CHISELLED DUSKY FACIAL FEATURES, THAT THE CANDIDATE WAS MADE TO SKIP THE TEST OF MAKE-UP AHEAD OF HIS INDUCTION AS A TRAINEE.) SOON AFTER COMPLETION OF HIS COURSE IN KALAMANDALAM, GOPI WAS RECRUITED AS A STAFFER IN HIS ALMA-MATER. THE INSTITUTION THEN HAD A MINOR KATHAKALI TROUPE FOR ITS UP-AND-COMING ARTISTES, AND GOPI SOON TURNED OUT TO BE A RISING STAR AMONG THEM. BY 1960S, HIS CHARMING MALE PROTAGONIST ROLES FOUND AN EQUALLY GRACEFUL COMPLEMENT IN THE FORM OF KOTTAKKAL SIVARAMAN, WHO TOO GAINED NAME AS A LEADING EXPONENT OF FEMALE ROLES ON THE STAGE. GOPI, TOGETHER WITH SIVARAMAN, A PUPIL OF PADMA SHRI VAZHENKADA KUNCHU NAIR, SOON MADE A GLORIOUS COUPLE, ESPECIALLY AS NALA-DAMAYANTI. THEY STILL ADORN STAGES AS KARNA AND KUNTHI, RUGMANGADAN AND MOHINI AMONG MANY OTHER ROLES. OF LATE, GOPI HAS A YOUNGER COLLEAGUE, MARGI VIJAYAKUMAR, ACTING OPPOSITE HIM OFTENER. GOPI, A RECIPIENT OF THE CENTRAL SANGEET NATAK AKADEMI AWARD, RETIRED FROM KALAMANDALAM IN 1992 AS ITS PRINCIPAL, AGED 55, AFTER 36 YEARS OF TUTORIAL SERVICE, AND NOW STAYS IN MUNDOOR, A VILLAGE 12 KM NORTH OF THRISSUR, WITH HIS WIFE AND TWO SONS. HE, HOWEVER, IS STILL BUSY AS A KATHAKALI ARTISTE—GRACING STAGES ACROSS HIS NATIVE KERALA, AND THE REST OF INDIA AND ABROAD (MOSTLY DURING THE CULTURAL OFF-SEASON IN HIS STATE). SCHOLARS AND AVID KATHAKALI WATCHERS ALIKE ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AS A LEGITIMATE SUCCESSOR TO THE LEGACY OF KALAMANDALAM KRISHNAN NAIR, ARGUABLY THE GREATEST-EVER KATHAKALI ARTISTE, WHO DIED IN 1990 AT THE AGE OF 75. IN 2010 RENOWNED JOURNALIST MEENA (DAS) NARAYAN HAS PRODUCED AND DIRECTED A DOCU-FICTION ON THE ARTISTE. TITLED MAKING OF A MAESTRO THE DOCUMENTARY EXPLORES THE EVOLUTION OF THE ARTISTE, RIGHT FROM HIS ORPHANED LIFE TO THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS HE FACES TO EMERGE AS THE LIVING LEGEND IN KATHAKALI. WORLD-FAMOUS FILMMAKER ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN HAS MADE A DOCUMENTARY MOVIE ON THE MASTER. TITLED KALAMANDALAM GOPI, THE FILM WON RAVE REVIEWS ACROSS VENUES, AND WAS SHOWN AT THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF INDIA IN 2000 BESIDES SEVERAL PRESTIGIOUS FESTIVALS WITHIN INDIA AND THE WEST AND FAR EAST. INCIDENTALLY, GOPI HAS ALSO ACTED (WITHOUT KATHAKALI MAKE-UP OR COSTUMES) IN A COUPLE OF MALAYALAM FEATURE FILMS LIKE VANAPRASTHAM (DIRECTED BY SHAJI N. KARUN) AND SHANTHAM (BY JAYARAJ). NALA CHARITHAM 3rd DAY Unnayi Warrier(1675 to 1775) This is the third part of Nalacharitham. If there is something called repentence Nala has it in abundance(reminiscent of King Lear). The thought that he left his wife (Damayanti) alone in the forest (even though it was for her better future) never leaves him for a moment. He wanders

Detail: two views of the First Torso Homage to Paul Apostle is the first part of THE NARCISSUS PENTOLOGY which consists of: HOMAGE TO PAUL APOSTLE VATICAN CORRIDOR, A Non-Specific Autobiography GLIMPSES OF THE QUEEN, 21 Studies for a Portrait of B.T. In the Form of a Triangle SANCTUARY, Autobiography of a Studio Bench CURIA, Nine Sectioned Lay-Ins With Predella 1971-1972 White Carrara Marble 6' x 13' x 13' Each of the five parts of THE NARCISSUS PENTOLOGY addresses itself to a particular view of the artist: HOMAGE TO PAUL APOSTLE, in the form of a square, is a self-portrait as seen through the eyes of another; VATICAN CORRIDOR, A Non-Specific Autobiography, in the form of a rectangle, is how he sees himself; GLIMPSES OF THE QUEEN, 21 Studies for a Portrait of B.T. in the Form of a Triangle is how he sees another; SANCTUARY, Autobiography of a Studio Bench, in the form of a circle, is how he sees his work; and CURIA, Nine Sectioned Lay-Ins With Predella, in the form of a line, is how he sees those who have created him. The name, HOMAGE TO PAUL APOSTLE, does not refer to Paul the Apostle but to an individual who was an avid collector of the work of Robert Cremean. This apparent avidity led him to amass a sizable collection of the artist’s sculpture, drawings, lithographs and published books. But it was not so much that he collected but how he did so. He seemed to appreciate the work to such an extent that he purchased numerous pieces from the artist’s gallery on time payments and continued doing so even during such periods when he was unemployed and living on a modest benefit, a portion of those monies assiduously set aside for such purchase. He displayed his collection in whatever place he then called home, whether a lavish house in the Hollywood hills in times of prosperity or a small apartment on the flatlands below during times more spartan. And, in the latter, he displayed the work wherever possible: on the floor, on the walls and even suspended from the ceiling. During a period of nearly twenty years, he continued to collect and always was articulate both in his praise and in his criticism of the work, never missing a gallery or museum exhibition opening, never failing subsequently to attend each repeatedly. Devotedly, he wrote many letters to the artist in which he expressed his thoughts about the work and of whatever literary reviews that appeared in print. He was both analytical and praiseful of the work as well as brutally frank about any aspect of it he viewed with suspicion or disdain, at times annoying the artist to distraction. For all of these reasons, Robert Cremean decided to pay homage to the collector with a work in which he chose to portray himself, within the NARCISSUS PENTOLOGY, as he saw himself through the eyes of another and recording in three dimensional form actual and intellectual change and development...and diminishment, from the physical glory of youth through inevitable physical maturing and aging, to the ultimate abstraction of intellectual and artistic maturity. HOMAGE TO PAUL APOSTLE was carved from four blocks of marble, each 35?" x 15?" x 15?", all sides polished, cut from a large chunk selected by the artist in a quarry in Massa Carrara, Italy. For ten months, after having completed a series of preparatory drawings for it, he worked on the sculpture—mallet, chisels, various rasps and sandpaper his only tools. He was virtually cut off from any intercourse other than with his own thoughts and ideas and with the marble. It was the intention of the artist that ultimately each of the four torsos would be permanently affixed to polished blocks of pietra serena, the native grey stone of Tuscany, each block the same dimension as the marbles. These six foot tall monoliths would then be set at the corners of a floor of polished pink Portuguese marble tiles for an over-all floor dimension of thirteen feet by thirteen feet. Collection: Fresno Art Museum Fresno, California