TG sculptor’s persistence leads to national recognition after 25 yrs

Hyderabad: S. Kantha Reddy submitted his sculptures to the Lalit Kala Akademi National Award selection every year for 25 years. When his name was finally chosen, he cried. "I couldn't stop crying. I told my wife, my mother, and my brother. Everyone was in shock," he said. "Some artists never see this recognition. They grow old and die without it."

He had been shortlisted before, maybe 10 or 15 times, possibly more. "Even selection felt huge," he said. He kept sending his work anyway. He never really thought the award would arrive. When it did, everything changed. "People began looking me up. They found my work. Galleries started calling." He is the first Telugu sculptor to receive the national award in this category.

Before the award, his sculptures sold for Rs.5,000. "I didn’t raise my prices, but the buyers did. Now people offer Rs.2 lakh even for smaller pieces." A bronze work is currently lined up for casting. Several galleries are waiting. One is preparing to commission a large installation, complete with an advance payment. "I never chased the money. It just happened."

His journey began in a small school in Telangana where he first drew attention during an Independence Day event. The prize then was a pencil box. At home, he was expected to help with buffaloes and milk-selling, but his mind wandered toward art. Later, he painted cinema cut-outs on rooftops for films like Khalnayak and Hum Rahein Na Rahein, earning just enough to eat. "I used to flip the canvas to prepare the outlines before the main artist arrived. All in the sun."

Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan had been on his mind ever since he read about the open-air school built by Rabindranath Tagore in Class VIII. “I had to, had to go there. People did not encourage me. So I ran away after I finished my bachelor’s at JNTU. I had no clue what to do when I reached Kolkata and interestingly I met a baul singer who helped me reach Bolpur,” he said, laughing as he recalled. “There I learnt of inspiring people. I always want to take inspiration to learn how to think, how to lead my life, and I learnt all of that there from all those artists like Ramkinkar Baige.”

He began his career painting greeting cards and drawing fonts, making 100 cards for Rs.20. He made small portraits. Any work that paid. That memory hasn’t left. It sits side by side with present-day success. Now a sculpture can fetch lakhs or more. He continues to sculpt in clay, fibre, bronze and discarded metal. Other works are finished with marker pens and sealed with Teflon coating. “This pen is only Rs.10, but it gives me the lines I want. Then it’s painted, coated, and finally sealed.”

Inside his studio, sculptures sit half-finished. One has remained under cloth for eight months. He doesn’t rush. “Unless my mind and body say yes, I won’t work on it.” One recurring form is the human head. "Each person lives multiple lives. Son, husband, father, friend, outsider. Every role wears a different face."

He works alone and doesn't speak about art in grand terms. His voice carries warmth, and his presence has a kind of lightness. He laughs easily, makes jokes about pricing, remembers the small things and his joy doesn’t come from fame but from the work itself. When he was invited to receive the award, it was also the first time he flew on a plane and stayed at a grand hotel. “My wife and I sat on a sofa so soft, I sank right in. I thought, "where am I?”

In the state, his achievement did not receive much acknowledgement despite the national accolade. Nonetheless, he didn't seem disheartened. “It was ignored. Maybe it was election time. Maybe they don’t care much for art,” he said, without bitterness.

Even now, when he feels low, he scrolls through messages from old teachers who write to him. He reads their words and then picks up his tools again. The recognition came late, but the work has always been there, and those messages are the real reminder for him.