అమెరికాలో బాపు బొమ్మల కొలువు

"Impressions" based in Vijayawada has been marketing digital
reproductions of Sri Bapu's art works. There's also an exclusive
website (http://www.bapuart.com) associated with this company.

They are touring the USA now as per the tentative schedule given below,
where they also sale of Bapu's art works.

Los Angles .................... June 12,13
Los Vegas ..................... June 14.15
Sanfrancisco .................. June 16, 17
Chicago ........................June 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
Washington .................... June 23, 24
Nayagara .......................June 25
Newyork ........................June 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Detroit ........................July 1, 2, 3
Nashville - Tennessee ......... July 4 to 15th

Contact Mr. M.Rajaram during June 12 to July 15th, 2005 on mobile number
(615)210-4060 for more details.

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Bapu - the artist

Sattriraju Lakshmi Narayana, also known as Bapu was born on 14th of December in 1933 in Narsapur, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. He graduated as a lawyer from University of Madras in 1955. He joined as political cartoonist for the newspaper Andhra Patrika in 1955. He later went on to become designer, movie director and a popular painter.

Painting Style

Bapu introduced a new style of paiting using simple bright colours which are easy on the eye. His unique style of economy of strokes, freehand drawing and non-usage of background clutter made the paintings simple, beautiful and popular. He specializes in Hindu mythology characters and has painted the Hindu epic Ramayana as a pictorial story. In his paintings, characters like Shiva, Bhima, Duryodhana look distinctly male with wide chests, bigger jaws and large biceps, while Krishna and Rama have a tinge of feminish sensitivity. All his female characters (including Hindu Godesses) have deer like eyes, a Physical attractiveness, voluptuous breasts, long hair and a sharp nose. Infact, the phrase Bapu Bomma (Bapus painting) has become synonymous with a beautiful girl in Telugu. Another character called Rendu Jedala Seetha (Seetha, a girl with two plaits) later became a synonym with any girl wearing two plaits. Bapu has also introduced a new cursive writing in Telugu which is probably the only alternative to the more traitional print font in Telugu.

Collaborations with other artists

He worked with Sankaramanchi and drew hundered and one pictures for each of the stories in Amaravati Kathalu. He collaborated with comic writer Mullapudi Venkata Ramana and gave life to Mullapudis characters Budugu and his family in the form of pictures.

Movies

Bapu has directed movies like Sampoorna Ramayanam (The complete Ramayana), Pelli Pustakam (The book of marriage), Saakshi (witness), Mr.Pellam (Mr.Wife) and Tyagayya (a biopic on the life of Saint Tyagaraja)

Other works

Bapu is said to have designed some saris too. The collection of saris used in the 1991 movie Pelli Pustakam were designed by Bapu.

Awards and Acclaim

Bapu was awarded the Raghupathy Venkaiah award by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh for his outstanding contribution to Telugu cinema in 1986. He shared the award along with his soul-mate Mullapudi. Another popular work in Telugu Koonalamma Padalu (Poems from Everyday people) has the following in praise of Bapu:

కొంటె బొమ్మల బాపు
కొన్ని తరముల సేపు
గుండె ఊయలలూపు
ఓ కూనలమ్మ

(koMTe bommala baapu
konni taramula saepu
guMDe ooyalaloopu
O koonalamma )

Bapu's paitings sway the hearts for generations