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Short Bio:
Vikram Madan grew up in India where he really wanted to be a cartoonist, but ended up an engineer. Many years later, he finally followed his heart into the visual and literary arts. When not making whimsical paintings and public art, Vikram writes (and illustrates) funny poems as well as books for kids. His poetry collections include the multiple-award-winning A HATFUL OF DRAGONS and the Moonbeam Book Award Winners THE BUBBLE COLLECTOR and LORD OF THE BUBBLES. Children's books include the early reader series BOBO & PUP-PUP and a forthcoming graphic novel OWL & PENGUIN. Artist Statement (for Visual Art): My whimsical invented-narrative paintings are not about beginnings or endings, but rather the middle, the part where the journey is still unfolding, where the adventure is still taking place, where possibilities lie dormant, waiting for an observer, the viewer, to come use their imagination to collapse probabilities into reality (somewhat like Schrodinger's Cat)! Through my work I hope to remind viewers that art can be fun and, in doing so, rekindle some of our lost sense of innocence. |
 'Self-Portrait with Vandal' - Acrylic & Charcoal, 24"x18"
Too-Much-Information Artist Back-Story:
Vikram Madan was born and raised in India where, despite developing an early love for humor, poetry, art, and cartooning, he ended up becoming (surprise!) an engineer. Arriving in the US for graduate studies, Vikram found himself contributing editorial cartoons to a daily newspaper, which work won him numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Washington Press Association and others, and led to inclusion in the prestigious 'Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year' annual collection. Over the years, Vikram's poetry, cartoons and illustrations have appeared sporadically in various publications. In 2011, Vikram's short humorous film 'The Three Little Space Pigs' was a winner in the Seattle Times 3-Minute Movie contest and was screened at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival. Vikram spent many years working in the Seattle-area hi-tech industry trying to ignore his callings - until one day he realized he was losing himself and really needed to make a leap of faith and trade in his keyboard for a paintbrush and a quill. Vikram quit his job, enrolled in some part time art classes, and eventually joined a full-time drawing and painting program at Seattle's Gage Academy of Art, honing his skills over the next two years. In 2014 Vikram completed the ArtistTrust EDGE Professional Development Program for Visual Artists and has been working as a full-time professional artist ever since. In 2016, Vikram received an Individual Artist Grant from 4Culture. In 2013, Vikram self-published his first collection of humorous poetry titled 'The Bubble Collector: Poems & Drawings by Vikram Madan', which is repeatedly compared to the work of Shel Silverstein, won a 2013 Moonbeam Children's Book Award for Poetry, and was described by one blog as "The BEST Poetry book of 2013". Vikram's second poetry collection 'Lord of the Bubbles: And Other Funny Poems' was released in 2018 and won the 2019 Moonbeam Bronze Award for Children's Poetry. A third collection 'A Hatful of Dragons: And More Than 13.8 Billion Other Funny Poems' was released in 2020 by Boyds Mills & Kane and received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, was selected for the Texas BlueBonnet Award Master List, was featured on numerous Best Book lists by Kirkus Reviews, New York Public Library, Bank Street College and others, and was one of the only poetry books on the American Library Association ALSC Summer Reading List. In addition to poetry, Vikram has authored an early-reader graphic chapter series titled BOBO & PUP-PUP (Penguin Random House 2021, illustrated by Nicola Slater) and created a beginning-reader graphic novel OWL & PENGUIN (Holiday House Books For Children 2022). Vikram currently displays his contemporary whimsical art in local shows and galleries all around the Seattle area and enjoys sharing his love for humor, poetry and drawing with kids of all ages by conducting in-person and virtual school visits. He has several Art Books now available from Amazon.Com. He is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and is represented by Rosemary Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio. At the end of it all, Vikram hopes to create visual and literary art that explores the human condition without taking itself too seriously, that invites audiences to rekindle a lost sense of innocence, and that helps make the world a better place one shared moment of levity at a time. Press: * 2014: Read a profile of Vikram's journey here in this 2014 front-page article in the Redmond Reporter. *2017: Listen to a radio interview on ArtBeat NW from 2017 * 2017: Watch a TV interview on Kent TV from 2017 *2019: Cover feature in Seattle's Real Change weekly paper |
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Photo Credit: Jahnvi Madan
Photo by Samantha Pak, Redmond Reporter
"I Paint, Therefore I Am" - Self Portrait of the Artist as a Work-in-progress.
Unless otherwise noted, all images and text on this website are copyright Vikram Madan. Please do not reproduce without permission.