Carving buddies

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The Cloud Sculptors Studio is the collective effort of four talented artists; Kiran Kumar, G. Ramakrishna, M. Srinivasa Rao and M. Sreenu, who became buddies while studying at the Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University.
“There is no competition between us. We have our individual identities and we work on different concepts so there are no clashes,” they share.

It’s a bond that has steadily grown since the days when they would spend long hours together at college to avoid getting ragged at the hostel. “Nevertheless, even the ragging helped in our work because our seniors would make us do things like submit 50 sketches a day to them,” Kiran recalls.
Inspired by Hindu mythology, Srinivasa Rao did a diploma in traditional sculpture and architecture from S.V.T.S.A. College, Tirupati. He also learned wood carving there, thinking he could carve out a career for himself in furniture designing if his sculptures didn’t make a mark.
“To survive in society, you have to be both mentally and physically strong,” Srinivasa believes. Most of his works portray various forms of the bull and cheetah, which symbolise strength and speed. He also loves mixing human (mostly women) and animal bodies to create powerful female forms in iron, steel or bronze.
Sreenu is also inspired by traditional and religious figures but he specialised in modern sculptures in Bangalore University, while studying for his Master of Visual Arts.
Since he was interested in sculptures from childhood, his teacher took him to famed sculptor Ravinder Reddy’s studio for a day trip in Class VIII. “My teacher used to work as Reddy’s assistant, so he took me to his home one Sunday,” he shares.
The other lucky person to interact with Reddy is Ramakrishna. It is thanks to Reddy that Ramakrishna decided to pursue his masters. “When I was at Telugu University, Ravinder Reddy visited the campus during the holidays. He saw my work and told me that I must do my masters in art,” Ramakrishna recalls, adding that he was unsure what to specialise in until then since most of his classmates were pursuing a career in animation.
Reddy was right because Ramakrishna’s work is remarkable. “In life, we are forever trying to balance everything. I choose to portray this balancing act through the circus and ballet,” he says about his creations. For him, it’s about capturing that one superb act or dance posture that an artist has spent years to perfect.
Kiran Kumar realised his love for art when he signed up for a free drawing camp as a child. “I once made a 16-ft tall sculpture using only scrap,” he shares.
He adds that once Laxma Goud saw his works and talked about his own life and struggled, since they are both into sculpture as well as printmaking.