GR Santosh

A self-taught artist, Gulam Rasool Santosh, born in 1929, Srinagar, Kashmir. In his childhood, he worked as a signboard painter, silk weaver, and whitewashed walls to support his family. He became a trained papier-mache artist during his work. He was part of the Progressive Arts Association. He helped him earn a Government of India scholarship to study Fine Art at the M.S. University, Baroda.

The theme of his paintings was predominantly landscape and for a brief period, he did figurative figures. Using mediums like watercolours and oil paint he has created beautiful artworks. His paintings were inspired by the Kashmir valley. His geometrical skills along with the mystical sense, he depicted in his paintings are a delight to the eyes. His work was also greatly influenced by his profound interest in Hindu-Buddhist- Tantric mystico-religious traditions and Sufi mysticism. He created work on the concept of Purusha–Prakriti cosmic creation. He depicted the male and female form and fused the sexual and spiritual. He created his own artistic and visual vocabulary. According to him- each of his paintings is a vibration and that he consciously tries to engage the sense of hearing through the medium of sight. He was also an acclaimed Kashmiri writer and poet

Santosh held over 30 solo shows. He has been facilitated with the Lalit Kala Akademi award in 1973 and the Padma Shri in 1977 amongst many other awards. He died in 1997 in New Delhi.