C. N. Karunakaran

C. N. Karunakaran was a painter born in 1940. He is a native of Brahmakulam in Thrissur District of Kerala. He was the Chairman of the Kerala Lalitakala Academy. Karunakaran has received degrees in painting and design from the Government School of Arts and Crafts, Madras. He completed his schooling under the guidance of the renowned artists K. C. S. Paniker and D.P. Roy Choudhari. He died in Kochi on December 14th, 2013 following a period of brief illness. After completing his education, Karunakaran worked as an art director and made ad movies in Chennai. In 1970, he came back to Kochi to take responsibility of Kalapeetom (Kerala Institute of Arts). He was a renowned artist of that time. He is the founder of "Chitrakoodam;" the first private art gallery in Kerala.

He also worked as an art director in the Malayalam film industry. He worked for Malayalam movies such as Aswathamavu, Akkare, Purushartham, Ore Thooval Pakshikal, and Alicante Anveshanam, etc. A display of his works were shown at the Embassy of India in Washington on 5 September, 2003 which was followed by the start to his American tour. His work was also exhibited at the Aditi Indian Restaurant, also in Washington D.C. Afterwards, these artworks were viewed at the Asian Art Gallery, Virginia. Karunakaran has also been a recipient of many awards. In the year 1956, he won Government of Madras Gold Medal for the Best Outgoing Student.

Then in the year 1964, Karunakaran won the Madras Lalit Kala Akademi Award. He won the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Award thrice in the years 1971, 1972, and 1975. He also won P.T. Bhaskara Panicker Award in the year 2000. Then in the year 2003, Karunakaran was the recipient of the Malayattoor Ramakrishnan Award. His last award won was in the year 2005 which was the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Fellowship Award. He was a great personality in himself. Karunakaran is an inspiration to many of the artists. He was the art director for many of the Malayalam films including Aswathamavu, Ore Thooval Pakshikal, Akkare, Purushartham, and Alicante Anveshanam.