About the Scrap-star
Ever wondered how much treasure you are surrounded with inside your households? Yes, you read it right. We all are surrounded with scrap which is equal to gold for this Andhra Pradesh man.
Meet professor Mr. Srinivas Padakandla, who hails from Maruthi Nagar, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh India. He is the Head of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Architecture and Planning in Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur Andhra Pradesh.
Srinivas Padakandla is a visionary man who looks at the most ordinary scrap in an unusual and very remarkable way. He uses it to make the most extravagant waste sculptures of humans, animals and functional designs for railways and municipal corporations. All that Srinivas does is from automobile metal scrap.
With his creativity and with the help of his team of 15 to 20 people which includes his students, juniors, and sub juniors he is able to complete these magnificent sculptures.
It doesn’t take much time to make a sculpture, a 15-feet model takes around a week to complete. My team members are experts in this field and with our collective creativity, we are able to make these attractive models from recycled automobile metal scrap.
Srinivas Padakandla
Master at Work – Scrap
Mr. Srinivas has also helped various local municipalities with the beautification of different cities. He puts his models in various parks and public places. In 2016 and 2018 he helped the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation in the beautification of their city.
In 2017 he also collaborated with Guntur Municipal Corporation, Madurai Municipal Corporation, and Thoothukudi Municipal Corporation for the beautification of these three different cities.
Mr. Srinivas has also worked for Urban development for which he helped the Hindupur Urban Development Authority in 2018 and placed his models in different parts of their areas.
In 2019 Greater Chennai Municipal Corporation contacted him for the beautification of their city and installed his models in different parts of Chennai.
Mr. Srinivas has made many stunning-looking sculptures, one of which is his magnificent Robot like structure of an owl which is not any working robot or a science project, but a giant sculpture made out of scrap automobile parts. He adjoined the owl face with a bike chain and used rotating gears for the eyes which shows how much skills and creativity he adds to his sculptures.
This is just a glimpse of Srinivas’s work. He has made hundreds of similar-looking sculptures such as ‘Deep-sea fishes’, ‘Flying-Horses’ and Lions.
In a recent interview with Mad4India, he stated that “every sculpture he makes is unique in its own style”, which completely shows that he is a man with self-confidence and believes in the hard work that he puts into his every sculpture.
Mr. Srinivas came to light in March 2021 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned his art and skills in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ speech. The Prime Minister praised his unique sculpting style and encouraged everybody to focus on fine arts and bring out something special for the country.
Early Life
Before enthralling artistic from scrap, Mr. Srinivas completed his graduation in Fine Arts from Andhra University and his master’s from Banaras Hindu University. At the beginning of his sculpting journey, he used to create sculptures from wood, stones, and scrap iron.
If you are interested to know more about eco-friendly products, you should check about a Startup that turns Recycled Plastic into Furniture.
Achievements
He has also showcased his work at the all-India stone carving camp organized by Lalit Kala Akademi and Regional Centre, Chennai, in 2007. In 2016 he showcased his sculptures at an automobile sculpture workshop organized by Shilparamam Arts and Cultural Society. In 2018 he also showcased at South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur.
Mr. Srinivas’s art can be accessed by any class of people in public parks, railway stations, etc. Whereas, the expensive art pieces in museums and art galleries can be only accessed by the richer class of people.
So, his sculptures are accessible to everybody which encourages people to work in scrap sculptures that are lower in cost and the raw material for it is easily available near them.
He has worked hard to master his skills and believes that the work he is putting into his art is all worth the effort as his art is eco-friendly and less costly unlike the expensive sculptures and paintings in museums.
If you are environmentally like Mr. Srinivas you should also read about Plastic Café, which gives free food to people in exchange for plastic waste.
You can read more about Mr Srinivas Padakandla and his work of scrap at their official site: srinivaspadakandla.com
If you like this story, please read the motivation story –Kashmiri Wazwan – Kashmir valley Has The Best Way To Solve The Problem of Food Waste
If you know more inspirational stories about a person, company, new idea, or social initiative, write to us on mad4india.com, or share such information with us on Facebook or LinkedIn.
