B. Jayaram · b. 1956 · ಬಿ. ಜಯರಾಮ್
Fifty years of looking at the world, pen in hand.
B. Jayaram was born on 20 May 1956 in Baluvaneralu, a village in the Tumkur district of Karnataka. The son of B. Bhyrappa and B. Gowramma, he began drawing as a teenager and never found a reason to stop. At the Ken School of Art in Bangalore — the crucible of a generation of Karnataka painters — he took his diploma in drawing and painting in 1978.
That same year he became an Art Master at Vidhya Vardhaka Sangha High School in Rajajinagar, and for the next 36 years he did two jobs with one heart: teaching thousands of Bangalore children how to see, and building a body of work that reached the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi when he was just thirty.
His subjects are intimate and Indian: women and their cats, kites over crowded skies, the patterned fabric of daily life — beaten into copper, inked line by patient line, or painted in saturated acrylic. He was a founder-member of the contemporary artist group Samyojitha and of the Art Park Camp movement, illustrated the Kannada weekly Varapatrikefor eight years, and drew the state’s DSERT textbooks that a generation of Karnataka schoolchildren grew up with.
The artist, 2026.
1956 — Present
A life in art
Scroll gently — seven decades unfold, a moment at a time.
A village dawn
Born on 20 May in Baluvaneralu, a small village in the Tumkur district of Karnataka — the son of B. Bhyrappa and B. Gowramma. A first light that never really set.
The first lines
At nineteen he begins to draw in earnest — and finds no reason to ever stop. Five decades of practice start with a single, certain line.
Ken School of Art
He takes his diploma in drawing and painting at the legendary Ken School of Art, Bangalore — and becomes an Art Master, a post he keeps for 36 years, teaching thousands of children how to see.
Into the National Gallery
At thirty, his work enters the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi — the nation's foremost home of modern Indian art.
Jahangir Art Gallery, Bombay
His paintings hang at India's most storied gallery address, alongside selections for the Rashtriya Kalamela in New Delhi.
National recognition
The N.C.E.R.T. National Award and the DSERT State Award honour a lifetime of teaching and making — art and education carried in one hand.
Cat with Woman
The series that defines him now — women and their cats, kites and pattern, beaten line by line into copper and painted in saturated acrylic.
Still at the table
The Pulakeshi Award crowns a life in Karnataka's art. At seventy, he is still at his table every morning, pen in hand.
Awards
- Karnataka Lalithakala Academy, 15th Annual Exhibition Award1983
- Mysore Dasara Exhibition Award1993
- DSERT State Level Award1999
- N.C.E.R.T. National Award1999
- Best Drawing Teaching Award, Bangalore North2000–01
- All India Art Teacher's Exhibition Award — Camlin Art Foundation2001
- Karnataka Rajya Chitrakala Shikshakara Sammelana Award2004
- Best Drawing Teacher Award, Bangalore North District2007
- All India Teachers Art Exhibition Award — Camlin Art Foundation2007
- Selected, Euro-Art Tour — Camlin Art Foundation2008
- State Level Special Teacher's Award2010
- Kempegowda Award2015
- Pulakeshi Award2023
In Collections
- National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (1986)
- Lalithakala Academy, New Delhi
- Karnataka Lalithakala Academy
- School of Arts and Crafts, Davanagere (1983)
- Private collections across India and abroad
Selected exhibitions
Jahangir Art Gallery, Bombay (1995) · Rashtriya Kalamela, New Delhi (1994, 1995) · A.I.F.A.C.S., Bangalore (1997) · 40th National Exhibition of Contemporary Art (1997) · Shimla (1992) · Karnataka Lalithakala Academy exhibitions (1979–96) · Regional Art Festival, Chennai (2001–07) · group shows in Goa, Mangalore and Bangalore from 1978 to today, and artist camps from Hampi Uthsava to Kalaagraama.