Biography
Dr. Sistla Ramakrishna Rao was born on 12th April 1939 at Parvathipuram of Andhra Pradesh in India, to the literary family of Sri Sistla Samba Siva Rao and Smt Sistla Saraswathamma. He graduated from Maharaja College of Vizianagaram. He received encouragement from his parents in his artistic pursuits.
Dr. Sistla Ramakrishna Rao is a gifted artist specializing in embossing using finger nails to create pictures in three dimensional forms on white cards. This unique art form popularly known as Nail Art - Nakha Chitra came to him as a natural in borne talent, which he later crystallized into a very new class of imagery. His daughter Smt. Vennela and grand daughter Chi. Sheetal have been greatly influenced and proudly inherited the legacy from Dr. Sistla Ramakrishna Rao.
He excelled in realistic portraiture and illusionist renderings of Hindu mythology. He has developed a unique individual style of converting embossed nail art into colorful imprints which are a visual treat to see. He displays his wide artistic spectrum from individual profiles to nature and to mythological epics. He read the Holy book Bible before commencing to convert it into this art form. The images reflect his purity of thought and vastness of his understanding of the subject.
So far, he has to his credit, thirty thousand exclusive nail drawings to include 800 on the great epic Ramayana, 173 pictures on Sri Hanuman Charitra, 445 pictures on Bhagavatham, 430 pictures on The Holy Bible and on several other topics. The Panchatantram - moral stories for children, comprising of 188 pictures has been posted specially for children. He has also added nail art drawings on Presidents of India, Prime Ministers of India, Bharat Ratna Awardees, Param vir Chakra awardees and some Eminent personalities.
The intricate details of each emboss speaks volumes of immense divine talented artistry and the amount of patience and accuracy that goes into creating each invaluable piece of eternal art. The imprints depict sensuality and realism of the situation and the character portrayed in the epic.
He has exhibited his Nail Arts, conducted workshops, and demonstrated the art in India and abroad. He has been conferred with several National and International Awards for his outstanding talent and devotion to Nail Art work. He has the distinction of being nominated into the Limca Book of Records in 2000 Millennium for picturing ‘Valmiki Ramayana’ in 800 drawings. He worked on the subject from 1981 to 1995. He has been nominated into the India Book of Records for his work on the ‘Valmiki Ramayana’ and the Global World Records for all his Nail Art including the ‘Valmiki Ramayana’. He has been interviewed by TV channels like ETV, IndiaVision etc.
He is the pioneer in publishing Ramayan and Sri Hanuman Charitra in Nail Art form and also in audio visual formats.
Sri Sistla Ramakrishna Rao is committed to preserving this new class of art form and encouraging it through out the world. To this end, he started "NAKHA CHITRA VENNELA", a School of Nail Art, to promote and provide free coaching to the interested students.
He has been awarded PhD by United Theological Research Institute (recognized by Christian Leardership University USA) for his unique and rare 3 dimensional nail art pictures on The Holy Bible. He has also been conferred with the title 'Vishwa Nakha Chitra Kala Samrat'.