Artist uses thousands of dots to paint Venkateswara and Padmavathi for Tirumala museum

A pointillist painting of Lord Venkateswara and Goddess Padmavathi, created using tens of thousands of colourful dots, will be displayed at the Sri Venkateswara Museum in Tirumala as part of its ongoing redevelopment.

Ginne Venkateswarlu, an associate lecturer in the Department of Painting at the TTD-run Sri Venkateswara Institute of Traditional Sculpture and Architecture (SVITSA), Tirupati, who paints under the pen name 'Ginne Sagar', has drawn the images of the divine couple on canvas using the pointillist technique, in which an image is built up from numerous dots.

Four months of patient work

The paintings of Lord Venkateswara and Goddess Padmavathi each measure 54 inches in height and 34 inches in width, and 68 inches wide when placed together. They will be displayed on the wall facing the museum's section on paintings.

Venkateswarlu told The Hindu that it took nearly four to five months to complete the paintings at his home, working after his office hours. The work is a fusion of ancient artistic calculations mentioned in the Agama Shastras and modern painting techniques.

He applied the technique to the traditional image of Venkateswara and Padmavathi that the TTD has used for its calendars for over half a century. The medium is traditional canvas, and he used 12 different colours of permanent marker pen to patiently apply dots at the appropriate places.

Museum redevelopment underway

The Sri Venkateswara Museum at Tirumala is being redeveloped by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) over 1.2 lakh sq. ft with 14 interactive galleries on Tirumala's history, spirituality and architecture.

The painting will reach the Tirumala museum ahead of its inauguration by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is to visit the shrine to offer silk vastram, tentatively on September 16, during the annual Brahmotsavam.

The TTD is also expected to use the image for its calendars.

Source: The Hindu