S Nandagopal — Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

I am particularly indebted to a school of drawing my senior colleagues and teachers had developed. It consisted of a line so soft and spontaneous like a Japanese brush stroke and just as free. With that they had developed a figure drawing, which was so unstructured that it could do such complexities as an elephant- headed presence, or a monkey - mannered wind – borne spirit, or one which could multiply its limbs, head and body at will or issue out into configurations of calligraphic signs. That drawing remains with me and nourishes me still. It is that which activates my sculpture.

Nandagopal is the first person to venture sculpture with the radical drawing and its implied technique. And it is precisely this drawing and technique that serves him for the larger and inspiring assurance… To have found so much to do with drawing and to assert form as Nandagopal does is certainly the odd performance in a situation as at present when people would much rather work out their own escape routes into formlessness and whimsicality. To show that there can be a certain kind of drawing and that there is a certain kind of abstraction that can exist, in the present circumstances is to create an unpleasantness.

In 2004, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Memories Of A Hero-Stone (1979), offered in the The Masterpieces & Museum Quality Series: Indian Contemporary Art – Books, Paintings & Sculpture by Osian's, which concluded on 15 October 2004 at New Delhi, achieving a sale price of ₹1,61,068 ($3,512). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2012, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Memories of a Herostone (1980), offered in the Creative India Series 4: Goa, Cholamandal & South India by Osian's, which concluded on 21 June 2012 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹5,40,000 ($9,571). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1997, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Memories of a Hero Stone (1993), offered in the The Intuitive-Logic II: Modern & Contemporary Indian Paintings, Drawings, Graphics, Sculpture & Tapestry by HEART, which concluded on 15 November 1997 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹1,00,000 ($2,722). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2022, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of The Message (2005), offered in the Evening Sale by Saffronart, which concluded on 17 September 2022 at New Delhi, achieving a sale price of ₹18,00,000 ($22,642). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

Distinct motifs executed with small strips of metal, various textures beaten into it; line patterns with strips of wire, the sharp extremities with strips of pointed metal wire and perforations–constitute the ‘drawing’ in Nandagopal’s work.

In 2008, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Conch Shell (2006), offered in the Specially South Sculptures: Contemporary Sculptures of South India by Apparao Art, which concluded on 20 April 2008 at Online, achieving a sale price of ₹4,10,000 ($10,278). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.