Mangalore: G R Upadhyaya - Truly a Gem in the World of Art

Brijesh Garodi
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Sep 16: They say life imitates art, but very few are gifted with the talent of making the different shades of life come alive on canvas. Even among artists we find those who stick to particular themes and genres.

Meet G R Upadhyaya, an artist par excellence, whose repertoire is vast and his works nothing less than awe-inspiring.

Gopalkrishna was born in Manibettu Moodumata, Shirva village of Udupi district. He is the eldest son of S M Rama Upadhyaya and Krishnaveni. He was called as G R Upadhyaya from the time he was studying fine arts in Dharwad. His inspiration to learn fine arts was Sacchidanand Acharya, fine arts lecturer, St Marys High school, Shirva.

Having high interests in fine arts and being poor in studies, he was forced to work as a supplier in a hotel in Dharwad. He worked for 2 years and together with that, learnt drawing. He secured 2nd rank in the state in higher grade exams.

At the age of 20, young G R Upadhyaya joined Palimar govt P U University as a teacher for tailoring and fine arts. Later he worked for 13 years in Palimar, 3 years in Sagar, 17 years in Balmatta Govt Womens education training centre and 3 years in Mangalore’s B Ed college as a fine arts lecturer. He was then selected for the post of assistant director for fine arts for the Karnataka state, in the Bangalore Commissioner’s office, and later opted for voluntary retirement service.

Along with his professional life, Upadhyaya used to do painting in his holidays, any painting that his customers wished and he used to earn a little bit out of that as well. He has done various paintings, like portraits for temple walls and chariots. Some of his well known paintings can be seen in the walls of famous temples in Palimar, Nandikur, Kunjar-alevoor, Manibettu, Santhur, Inna, Kateel, Soorinje,Padubidri, Sharavu, Sagara, Hosabettu and many more. Apart from this, he also did sketches for newspapers as a passtime.

He has given almost 40 paintings to a hotel in Mysore and 5 paintings on Yakshagana to an Indian-based hotel in Dubai. He also drew several paintings for the purpose of sale in Tulu Sammelana. He has also given a large painting named “Maha Nadavali 2005” to Dr Veerendra Heggade and “Karavali Janapada” to Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya.

Due to shortage of space at his residence, at the age of 61, he has given away 61 paintings to Dr Veerendra Heggade for exhibition. As there are hidden mysteries in his pictures, it is liked by all ages, says Upadhyaya. He has also converted his paintings into digital format for the purpose of sale.

To makr 30 years of his residence in Kavoor, he organized a painting exhibition from August 6 to 12 at Kavoor Complex. As visitors for his earlier exhibitions were less, he used to visit temple programmes like nagamandala, Brahmakalashotsava, children’s day celebrations and other occasions and organize exhibitions there.

Truly, G R Upadhyaya is a gem who shines through his paintings.