Rajendra Kumar Shyam is a Madhya Pradesh-based Gond artist whose canvases are packed with flawlessly symmetric, thick compositions that tell detailed stories from Gond tradition and represent images from rural life. Rajendra was intrigued by murals as a youngster, and he and his mother and sisters would actively engage in dabbing the walls of his home with cow dung and adorning them with flowery patterns and motifs. Rajendra's elder brother died while he was still in school, forcing him to quit out and begin working to support his family. When Rajendra and his friends went far into the forests to get fuel wood, they would spend the night with people from neighbouring villages around a fire, listening to stories told by an elderly guy in the group. Rajendra's vivid and evocative artworks now bring these magical stories to life. Rajendra Kumar Shyam worked in Bhopal for his uncle, famed Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam. After that, he worked as a labourer at the Indira Gandhi National Human Museum in Bhopal. But he was still interested in art and painted in the evenings after work. Rajendra was inspired to pursue art as a career by modern artist Shampa Shah, and he began painting full-time in 2007.
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