C.N. Karunakaran (1940–2013) was a visionary artist whose work bridged the ritualistic grandeur of Kerala mural traditions with the language of Indian modernism. Born in the princely state of Cochin, he trained at the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai under masters of the Madras Art Movement, including K.C.S. Paniker and D.P. Roy Choudhury. It was here that Karunakaran absorbed the belief that Indian art need not imitate the West, it could find expression through its own histories, materials, and spiritual imagination. That conviction would go on to define his entire practice. When he returned to Kerala in the 1970s, Karunakaran turned his attention to mural restoration at the Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple, leading a movement that revived the fading tradition of Kerala mural painting—not as preservation, but transformation.
Karunakaran’s paintings are steeped in mythology, fantasy, and a deep affection for the decorative lyricism of temple murals. He reinterpreted the stylized forms, dramatic profiles, and organic colour palettes of this sacred artform for contemporary audiences, often layering them with surrealist moods and theatrical staging. His work frequently featured the female form—divine yet earthy—alongside animals, spirits, and dream-like creatures that seemed to drift between memory and myth. These canvases are not reproductions of the past, but reinventions: structured by classical aesthetics but animated by modern consciousness. His practice extended beyond canvas into advertising, book illustration, and cinema, particularly as an art director in Malayalam films, where he infused narrative spaces with visual elegance. His commitment to building an ecosystem for art in Kerala led to the founding of Chitrakootam, the state's first private gallery, and nurtured generations of emerging artists.
Karunakaran’s works were exhibited widely across India and internationally, with solo shows in Brazil (2002), the Asian Art Gallery in Virginia (2003), Kuwait (2003), and the Embassy of India in Washington D.C. (2003). His illustrations were featured in Lore and Legends of Kerala from Aithihyamala, among other publications. He received several accolades during his lifetime, including the Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi awards (1971, 1972, 1975), the P.T. Bhaskara Paniker Award (2000), the Malayattoor Ramakrishnan Award (2003), and the prestigious Ravi Varma Puraskaram (2009). He served as the Chairman of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and was awarded its senior fellowship in 2005. Karunakaran passed away in Kochi in December 2013, leaving behind a legacy that forever changed the trajectory of visual culture in Kerala—drawing a line between tradition and modernity, devotion and design, the sacred and the surreal.