Rajasekharan Parameswaran

Rajasekharan Parameswaran (born 1964), also known as Marthandam Rajasekharan, is an Indian art director and self-taught painter from Tamil Nadu. He holds two Guinness World Records.

Personal life
Born in 1964, Parameswaran lives in Kaliyakkavilai, Tamil Nadu, India. He is married and has two daughters.

Career


Parameswaran worked as a statistics compiler, receptionist, medical representative, and teacher, before becoming an artist. He has no formal training in the arts; he developed his own style and taught himself pencil sketching and oil painting. Parameswaran made his debut in films as an assistant director with Adoor Gopalakrishnan's film Nizhalkuthu. His first film as art director was the 2007 Naalu Pennungal, directed by Gopalakrishnan, for which he won a state award. Parameswaran has since worked as an art director on a number of other films including Oru Pennum Randaanum, Maestro's Memoirs, Mohiniyattam, Magizhchi, and Pinneyum.

In 2008, Parameswaran received a Guinness World Record for creating the largest easel painting. It is a portrait of former chief minister of Kerala Elamkulam Namboodiripad, measuring 25' height and 50' width, and is held by a 56.5' high and 31' wide easel on National Highway 47 near Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Two years later, it was included in the Limca Book of Records.

In 2017, Parameswaran built "The Largest Devil's Knot (Edaakoodam)", a type of Burr puzzle, with each piece of the puzzle measuring 24' x 2' x 2', unveiled on 27 December 2017 at The Ravis Hotels and Resorts, Kollam, Kerala.

In 2010, he won the Bikhuram National Award for his painting of Mahatma Gandhi and the same year, for a painting of Fidel Castro, he won an online art contest organised by the ArtSlant International.

In 2015, his works were featured at Elegance Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and included a portrait of Adhiletchumy Natrajan, titled Bliss. Bliss had previously been featured at the Vienna International Exhibition (2013). One of his paintings, Bhayanakam, was featured at Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai, and sold. Parameswaran donated the proceeds to a relief fund for people affected by Cyclone Thane, which struck the Indian subcontinent in 2011.

Parameswaran has made portraits of Mother Teresa, Abdul Kalam, Richard Branson, and Najib Razak, among many others.

Selected exhibitions

 * 2009 – Alshine Art Forum, group show, New Delhi
 * 2010 – International Contemporary art Festival, Daegu, Republic of Korea
 * Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai, organised by Ananda Vikatan
 * 2015 – ART NOW The Artists Fair London
 * 2015 – Memoirs Journey – at Elegance Club, Malaysia
 * 2016 – Oxford International Art Fair – representing Laksagi Art Gallery, Malaysia
 * 2016 – Symposium of Oil Painting Exhibition – 2016, Batu Gajah, Malaysia.
 * 2017 – Oil Painting Demo of Abdul Kalam at Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) Trivandrum, India.
 * 2018 – Oil painting Demo of Elamkulam Namboodiripad at "EMS-ntey Lokam" – national Seminar at Wandoor, Malappuram, Kerala.
 * 2019 – Oil painting Demo of Lokanath Behera drawing-life-to-a-painting – Band stand, Museum, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
 * 2019 – Chithra Sancharam-2019, the national level painting exhibition at Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery, Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram.
 * 2019 – Chithra Sancharam-II, the national level painting exhibition-2019 at Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery,Kozhicode.
 * 2019 – Solo Show-2019, 14 Oct to 30 Dec, Palaces of the Golden Horses, Jalan Kuda Emas, Mines Wellness City, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Malaysia
 * 2021 – OVIYAM Kerala Arts and Crafts Village, Kovalam, Trivandrum. 20 January
 * 2024 – Gefuhle-Solo oil painting exhibition, Dallas, Texas. 14 April