K.S.Kulkarni was born in 1916 in Karnataka and studied at the Sir J.J. School of Art, Bombay. In 1945, Kulkarni quit his job and joined the art department of the Delhi Polytechnic and became a member of Delhi’s All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society and two years later, he founded two creative spaces: Delhi Shilpi Chakra and Triveni Kala Sanga.
Kulkarni was inspired by primitive and folk art. Although his subject matter was derived from traditional subjects, his works contain a modernist sensibility, painted in a cubist, semi-abstract manner, rendered with spare, crisp modern lines over a flat pictorial surface. His art gradually evolved, and was inspired by decorative grace of the classical Indian figures in the Ajanta murals and Chola bronzes. His works are focused on the Indian figure encapsulated with movement. He played with sensuosness of colour and form to heighten the plastic potentiality of form. His extensive travels to South America especially pushed his visual vocabulary with Mayan and Etruscan art along with the simplicity of children’s art. He would paint a cityscape like a stack of blocks using bold outlines and strokes. The mundane was turned into the focus of his works.
In 1962, Kulkarni was elected to the General Council of the Lalit Kala Academy. He received the National Award in 1955, 1962 and 1965. He participated in several International shows at Tokyo, Paris, New York, Venice, Sao Paolo and London.
The artist passed away in 1994.
