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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 came to his senses and followed his heart back into visual and literary humor. When not making whimsical paintings and public art, Vikram writes (and illustrates) funny books, including the award-winning poetry collections A HATFUL OF DRAGONS, THE BUBBLE COLLECTOR, and LORD OF THE BUBBLES, the early reader series BOBO & PUP-PUP and the forthcoming kids' graphic novels OWL & PENGUIN and ADVENTURES OF ZOONI. 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 all kinds of possibilities await... a metaphor for life, I suppose! Through my work I hope to rekindle some of our lost sense of innocence while reminding viewers that art can be a fun experience in itself. |
 '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. During his graduate studies, Vikram found himself drawing editorial cartoons for 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. Failing to translate said newspaper experience into a cartooning career, Vikram fell back to a second love - programming - and spent many years working in the tech industry. Over the years, his creative work appeared in occasional publications and in 2011, his humorous entry was a winner in the Seattle Times 3-Minute Movie contest and screened at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival. The pressure to listen to his callings kept building up though and, one fine day, Vikram pulled the ripcord, quit his job (without any plan!), and bumbled around till he found himself honing his drawing and painting skills at Seattle's Gage Academy of Art. 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, focused on whimsical studio paintings and public art projects in the Seattle area. 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 was repeatedly compared to the work of Shel Silverstein, won a 2013 Moonbeam Children's Book Award for Poetry, and was described by one reviewer 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, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, was selected as a Texas BlueBonnet Award Finalist, was featured on numerous Best Book lists by Kirkus Reviews, New York Public Library, Bank Street College of Education and others, and was one of the only poetry books on the American Library Association's ALSC 2021 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 is working on two graphic novel projects for Holiday House Books for Kids: OWL & PENGUIN (2022) and ADVENTURES OF ZOONI (2023). 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 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
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Photo by Samantha Pak, Redmond Reporter
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"I Paint, Therefore I Am" - Self Portrait of the Artist as a never-finished work-in-progress...
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Unless otherwise noted, all images and text on this website are copyright Vikram Madan. Please do not reproduce without permission.