Kerala - Kochi
Exploring language of sculpture

"Art should work towards evoking a shared experience of the self, linked with the history of art, literature, or culture in general," says noted artist N.N. Rimzon. The Thiruvananthapuram-based artist, whose works have received international acclaim, points out that the survival of the shared experience or the secular stance that he has maintained during the past 20 years or so an artist is important in the present context.

He believes that art has the potential to transform. A work of art can transform an individual, working at an unconscious level. And for Mr. Rimzon, this has always been true. Since, as he points out, his own life was transformed by the power of art.

Born in a sleepy village, Kakkoor, in Ernakulam district, Mr. Rimzon realised the vastness of the world of art as he stepped into the College of Fine Arts in Thiruvananthapuram. He had joined the college in 1976, a significant time in the history of Kerala. The college itself was in its early days, after being upgraded from the status of an institute. They were the first batch of the college. "It was like entering a new world," he remembers. "Till then, I had only seen the calendar pictures, had read something about Ravi Varma and Picasso and heard about Van Gogh. But, the idea that art is a big world, something vast, occurred after entering the College of Fine Arts."
Renu Ramanath
(The Hindu - 09/04/06)