Honoured to G.L.N. Simha, Mysore
Sri GLN Simha (Gopalachar Lakshmi Narasimha) was born in Mysore on December 19, 19 37.
Introduced to the Vedas and the Puranas right from his childhood at the Veda
Pathashala of Sri Parakala Mata, Mysore, young Simha’s interest was more into
drawing.
His passion for art landed him at the hoary premises of premier art
school of Mysore Sri Chamarajendra Technical Institute (CTI). He joined its art
course in 1954. His early training was under masters like FM Sufi, SN Swamy and
Y Subrahmanya Raju. He acquired the
diploma in Arts, in 1959, passing the course with exemplary distinction.
In 1962, he joined the well-known Kannada daily from Bengaluru, ‘Taayi
Naadu’ and and also worked in the
Arts section of the weekly magazine ‘Gokula’ and monthly magazine ‘Kailaasa’,
published under the editorship of Khadri Shamanna.
Simha’s art was further honed under the guidance of senior artist MTV Acharya who also taught him
the intricacies of creating printworthy images for a news magazine.
It was during the mid-1960s that
Simha was invited by Sri MB Singh, editor of ‘Sudha’ and ‘Mayura’
(Kannada weekly and monthly cultural
magazines) to lend the creative hand as an illustrator in the arts sections of
the magazines.
It seems that his marriage to Smt. Prema in 1969, changed the course of
his life permanently. Simha returned to Mysore dropping the shackles of working
for newspapers. He wished to be free and he wished to follow his muse.
Free-lancing his talents Simha dabbled creating calendars as well as
designing and painting the covers of several novels.
In 1991, Simha and Prema settled down in the sleepy little temple hamlet
of Kalale a few kilometers from Nanjanagud in Mysore district.
Exhibitions of the paintings of Simha
Ø May 1 to 6, 2006: Veda
Kala, Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishat, Bengaluru.
Ø June 16 to 30, 2002: Veda Kala, gallery kalA kuMj, Mysore.
Ø February 11-12, 2005: Veda Kala, Veda Vijnana PracharinI sabha, Mantralaya.
Ø May 20 to 29, 2011: Divya
Varna,
Pratima Gallery, Mysore.
Awards and honours Simha received
Ø 1955-56: CTI,
Yuva Pratibha award, silver cup, instituted by KM Veerappa.
Ø October 1999: Dasara
Exhibition award.
Ø December 25, 2001 : Honour by Samskara Bharati.
Ø June 26, 2003 : Rotary Ramsons Kala Pratishtana
award.
Ø March 2, 2004 : Karnataka Lalitha Kala Academy
award for the year 2003.
Ø November 11, 2004 : Veerappa award, Karnataka Chitra Kala
Parishat, Bengaluru.
Ø February 5, 2011 : Kuncha Kala Tapasvi Tippaji Award,
Tippaji Chitrakar Arts Foundation, Shimoga.
Ø May 15, 2011 : MTV Acharya Award, Acharya
Chitrakala Bhavana, Mysore.
Ø May 26, 2013: Kunchabrahma
MV Minajagi Award, Dharwad.
Ø December 19 2015: Vanamali
Seva Award, Mysuru.
Paintings of G.L.N Simha
