The artist Chitra Ramanathan, known for her series of colorful, textural mixed media paintings, created and personally presented a portrait of SPB in her signature style of painting to S.P.Balasubrahmanyam during the SPB concert Indianapolis September 2006. (http://www.indianet.com/arts-co-in/chitra-vegas.htm) This was a commission for the Indian Association of Indianapolis. Says Chitra, "Having so many SPB favorites from my early teen to adult years, it came as a complete surprise when I was asked to do the portrait drawing. I can't wait to hear his new number Balleilakka for A.R.Rahman in the forthcoming Director Shankar-Rajnikanth movie Sivaji: The Boss.

Biography:

Foray into art began early

Born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India and raised in Kolkatta, West Bengal, and Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Chitra Ramanathan began drawing and painting at the age of four and won prizes mostly in the form of sliver trophies in painting competitions throughout her childhood. She remembers being a recipient of prizes from corporate sponsors such as Hindustan Lever, Ltd.through a newspaper coloring contest entry judged by eminent Indian artists at the age of ten, and one of her paintings being showcased at the Birla Academy of Fine Arts and Culture, Kolkatta, India when she was awarded a trophy for one of her pieces during the evening reception during the same years. Another early childhood memory-an impromptu pencil sketch for actor Gemini Ganesh at his residence, signed by him.

Current Professional Achievements

Having migrated to the U.S in 1984, Chitra Ramanathan has held several solo and group art exhibitions of her paintings on Broadway, SoHo art galleries in New York since 1995, following a large solo exhibition of her paintings at the ARC Gallery/Educational Foundation, Chicago, Illinois in 1994. Several of her exhibitions attracted rave [[reviews].

A professional artist and educator, Chitra Ramanathan is known for her mixed media textural colorful mural-like abstract paintings that are often very large. Her numerous works are with private, corporate and public art collections around the United States and in Europe. Chitra's anodized aluminum and Plexiglas paintings have been described as "tactile works that resonate with a quiet harmony" and ..."originally from India, her work reflects the spirituality of her culture" by Manhattan Arts New York, and her paintings on canvas, lithographs and monoprints as "Simply luxurious".

To borrow from a recent interview with the artist, "Chitra's paintings exemplify her love of nature as well as the subjectivity of each individual's unique pursuit of happiness. Her painting procedure often entails making mental notes of a scene in nature, including the lighting, colors, and textures. She then uses these impressions in her studio to replicate the subject matter in an abstracted form, using rich physical textures, intense colors, and varied media".( Source: http://www.art.uiuc.edu/a d/news/news_alum.cfm)

During an interview with Chitra Ramanathan by the Indianapolis Star newspaper's Fishers|Geist Magazine June-July 2007 issue, the artist reflected, "I feel fortunate that my work has got accepted so favorably-people who come across my paintings on various websites have been writing to me, and many have become collectors of my work. I am thankful that my work has traveled to different parts of the U.S and Europe. I have done a fair amount of donating my work to worthy causes. Currently some of my paintings are up for auction at a website http://www.ArtByUs.com, where I have designated part of the proceeds from sales to reach organizations such as Newborns in Need, American Red Cross and the Jolie-Pitt Foundation to benefit children's causes globally. I wish to continue painting as long as I live. I would like to work on more public and corporate art commissions, maybe liven up buildings and offices that people see every day to provide an example". Art Direction is another area she would like to pursue, projects that utilize her alluring paintings of any scale for films/movies.

She continues to donate her works to charities, such as creating a "en plein air" painting for the "Naturally Inspired Paint Out in the White River Gardens, Indianapolis donated for the silent auction to benefit the Indianapolis Zoo and White River Gardens on August 20, 2006. (NATURALLY INSPIRED Art Exhibition at the White River Gardens ran September 1-November 19, 2006). In November 2006, a donation of her painting titled Exultation" (http://www.galleries-online.co.uk) created in her signature style of abstract painting, was sold in the Madame C.J. Walker Theatre"s silent auction.

Following the renovation at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada, two mixed media textural paintings, each measuring 4 feet by six feet in dimension commissioned of Chitra Ramanathan by the MGM Mirage were created in the artists' signature style of abstract painting and are on permanent display in the Conservatory Botanical Gardens at the Cafe Bellagio since October 2004.


Chitra Ramanathan holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Stella Maris College, Chennai India, and later a second Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting with Honors and M.B.A with concentrations in Art Museum Administration and Human Resources, both degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A. Also an educator who teaches acrylic painting and mixed media painting courses at the Indianapolis Art Center, USA, she is a 2007-2010 member of the Committee on Cultural Diversity Practices of the College Art Association of America, New York.

"Ramanathan's paintings are richly textural, and the materials she uses have a multi-dimensional effect. Chitra works with acrylic, and occasionally uses sand and oil. Her images have a floating quality to them. They are effervescent, airy and very different from the detailed miniature portraits and landscapes she painted as a child artist in India. She paints on Plexiglas, rice paper, linen, and canvas. The Plexiglas she uses is transparent, and contains different textures. It's uneven surface holds paint in unexpected ways. By painting on both sides of the Plexiglas, the images on the backside appear to be emerging from within the painting. Rice paper and linen, also transparent, achieve similar results." (Interview with Chitra Ramanathan by http://www.nextmonet.com, 1999

Awards

2006 "Picture Windows 2006: Urban Interpretations, titled "Chitra Ramanathan's Exaltation", a public art commission for the Arts Council of Indianapolis (ACI) with support from the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission (CDC) to create temporary site-specific installation of five large paintings for Chase Towers, near Circle Center in downtown Indianapolis.

2005 Solo exhibition of paintings at the Indianapolis Artsgarden

2004 corporate commission

1994 and 1995 Binney and Smith's Liquitex Student Grant Award for "Outstanding Achievement in the Painting Discipline"

Forthcoming

Participation in the Florence Biennale, Italy December 1-9, 2007

Inclusion of Chitra Ramanathan's biography in Marquis' Who's Who in America 2008 edition