The Nalanda: Living Among Many Cultures and Times

Gulammohammed Sheikh is an artist, writer and educationist. As a painter for more than five decades he has pioneered an engagement with historical forebears and a social and political investment in art practice. In his tenure as a teacher of Art History and Professor of Painting at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara, and through numerous visitorships, residencies and publications he has contributed to a renewed understanding of cross-cultural themes in artistic pedagogy, in an Indian and international context. His curatorial projects have contributed to an appreciation of world art history. Mr. Sheikh bridges a historical appreciation of art and art practice with an engagement with contemporary socio-political concerns. He has been prominent in policy and institutional advocacy, participating in cultural organizations and on national committees. He has been awarded numerous honours including, the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1983 and Padmabhushan in 2014, Kalidas Samman by the Madhya Pradesh Government in 2002, Ravishankar Rawal Award by the Gujarat Government in 1998-99, Ravi Varma Puraskaram by Government of Kerala in 2009. He is also a recipient of the National Award by the Lalit Kala Akademi. 
 
He will be in conversation with Professor Rajesh Naidu. Professor Rajesh Naidu is an artist and educator. He has exhibited in multiple juried, group and solo shows. As a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Indiana, USA), Rajesh Naidu conducted Painting, Art History, and Art Appreciation courses. He received a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts/Painting from Indiana State University, during which he was an Instructor for Beginning and Intermediate Level Drawing courses, and held a Graduate Assistantship scholarship. As an artist, Professor Naidu’s primary research focus is the study of the human condition and individual identity through representational painting aided by the history of art.