Painter | Illustrator | Thinker
History of Gunijan Kala Puraskar
Inspired after being conferred with an esteemed Dayawati Modi Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement award for Art, Culture & Education in 1996, Artist Ravi and Mrs. Smita Paranjape, established the ‘Ravi Paranjape Foundation’ in 1998 with the specific objective of recognizing talented but underappreciated senior artists who greatly contributed to the field of visual arts. For that purpose, the Foundation instituted ‘K.R. Paranjape Gunijan Kala Puraskar’ named after Raviji’s artist and educator father who had a great influence on Raviji’s development and career. In 2022 and 2023 The foundation presented ‘Gunijan Kala Puraskar’ to practicing artists who significantly contributed to humanity and the visual arts field. The award criteria continue to evolve to fit the evolving field of visual arts.
Shri. K. R. Paranjape
K. R. Paranjape Gunijan Kala Puraskar Recipients
Following artists were honored with the biennial ‘K.R. Paranjape Gunijan Kala Puraskar’ by Ravi Paranjape Foundation. Shri. Shivaji Tupe, Landscape artist, 1998 Shri. Bhaiyasaheb Omkar, Painter, Illustrator, 2000 Shri S. D. Phadnis, Cartoonist, Illustrator, 2000 Shri. Bal Thakur, Illustrator, 2002 Shri. Kamal Shedge, Typography designer, 2002 Shri. Shri S.S. Shaikh, Painter, 2004 Shri. R.K. Joshi, Typographer, Designer, 2006 Shri. Madan Garge, Sculptor, clay artist, 2006 Shri. Dattatreya Padekar, Painter, Illustrator, 2008 Shri. G.S. Majgaonkar, Painter, Illustrator, 2008 Shri. Maruti Patil, Painter, Illustrator, 2010 'Yuva Puraskar' offered to the following promising young artists by the foundation. Shri. Devdatta Padekar, Painter, 2006 Shri. Aditya Chari, Painter, Illustrator, Cartoonist, 2008 Shri. Kiran Hanamshet, Painter, Illustrator, 2010
Gunijan Kala Puraskar 2023
Charuhas is a celebrated artist and a master of many talents but he became a household name when he and his associate Late Shri. Prabhakar Wadekar successfully created the comic strip with the protagonist ‘Chintoo’ a school-going kid and his family & friends. When comic strips were immensely popular in English newspapers, it was a somewhat understated feature for Marathi readers. Chintoo went on to become the first and the longest-running Marathi comic strip bringing smiles on the faces of children and adults alike with the subtle humor discovered in everyday situations. Continuing with his artistic quest, Charuhas made his mark on the new art form. He creates exclusive pieces of art by gluing laser-cut pieces of wood maintaining its natural color & texture.
Chintamani is an excellent painter and illustrator, but he stands apart from his peers because he took ‘visual’ art beyond the boundaries of ‘visualization’. Chintamani’s groundbreaking experiments and technique of incorporating ‘braille’ in his paintings opened up an impossible possibility of ‘seeing’ the paintings to visually compromised individuals. Chintamani continues experimenting with topics and mediums to bring the art as close as possible to the sightless.
Gunijan Kala Puraskar 2022
Artist Rahul Deshpande has made his mark in the areas of fine arts, designing, illustration, and art education in an impressive career of thirty years and continuing. He has also contributed in conceptualizing, designing, illustrating and authoring over twenty books on art related topics. He is a faculty member of the Graphic Design department at Symbiosis Institute of Design in Pune.