Pointillist painting of Venkateswara and Padmavathi to adorn redeveloped Tirumala museum

The painstaking effort behind creating an image of Lord Venkateswara and Goddess Padmavathi using tens of thousands of colourful dots is palpable in the final work.

Ginne Venkateswarlu, an associate lecturer in the Department of Painting at the TTD-run Sri Venkateswara Institute of Traditional Sculpture and Architecture (SVITSA), Tirupati, who paints under the pen name ‘Ginne Sagar’, has drawn the images of the divine couple on canvas in the pointillist technique, in which an image is built up from numerous dots.

The painting is to adorn the walls of the Sri Venkateswara Museum at Tirumala, which is being redeveloped by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) over 1.2 lakh sq. ft with 14 interactive galleries on Tirumala’s history, spirituality and architecture.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Venkateswarlu said the paintings of Lord Venkateswara and Goddess Padmavathi, each measuring 54 inches in height and 34 inches in width, 68 inches wide when placed together, would be displayed on the wall facing the museum’s section on paintings.

He applied the technique to the traditional image of Venkateswara and Padmavathi that the TTD has used for its calendars for over half a century. The work is a fusion of ancient artistic calculations mentioned in the Agama Shastras and modern painting techniques.

“It took nearly four to five months to complete the paintings at my home. I worked after my office hours on this divine task,” he said.

The medium is traditional canvas, and he used 12 different colours of permanent marker pen to patiently apply dots at the appropriate places. The TTD is also expected to use the image for its calendars.

The painting will reach the Tirumala museum ahead of its inauguration by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is to visit the shrine to offer silk vastram, tentatively on September 16, during the annual Brahmotsavam.