Chitra Ramanathan

Contemporary visual artist and educator Chitra Ramanathan's current extensive body of mixed-media paintings portray the mental emotion of happiness as a visually accessible entity. They are inspired by the short-lived intensely beautiful but short-lived garden blooms and cyclical change in seasons, as characteristics that the artist compares tp and identifes with the continually evolving, ephemeral, fleeting and enticingly beautiful happiness' "formless form": a phrase she has coined to describe her concept. The hint of circles and abstract human-like forms almost always present in her paintings signify the cycle of human life: trying times followed by happy phases in a positive sense, and of life and rebirth influenced by her roots from India.

Her paintings on varied medium such as anodized aluminum, Plexiglas and canvas, have been described as "tactile works that resonate with a quiet harmony" and "Simply luxurious" by Manhattan Arts International magazine, New York in 1995.

To quote an interviewer, "Chitra's paintings exemplify her love of nature as well as the subjectivity of each individual's unique pursuit of happiness. Her painting procedure often entails making mental notes of a scene in nature, including the lighting, colors, and textures. She then uses these impressions in her studio to replicate the subject matter in an abstracted form, using rich physical textures, intense colors, and varied media".

Chitra earned her second Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting with honours from the shoøl of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A in 1993 during which period she also allotted time to study Painting and Art History in Paris, France, with extended time spent at Claude Monet's garden in Giverny, France and other parts of Europe for subsequent visits that influenced her later work. She also earned an M.B.A in art Museum Administration and Human Resources from the College of Commerce and Business Admin