This book presents fifteen new dramatic paintings by hyderabad-based artist vaikuntam vaikuntams telangana folk meld the memory of his eyes and his fingers they embody a unique world, of daily rites of life couched within an imaginative terrain the monumentality of vaikuntams figures in rich primary colours of the earth assume a mythical dimension, enhanced by the solidity of their execution in acrylic they seem like demigods, not village folk - looming, tantalizing, almost unapproachable vaikuntam voices the collective yearning for a separate telangana identity, beyond politics, beyond couched cultures his rich palette and easily recognizable faces and figures have given his work acceptability; paintings that are strikingly modern without any allegiance to anything usually associated with modernity in these huge canvases, vaikuntam immortalizes his earthly icons for all time