Born in 1940 in Kadavoor (Kerala, India), Viswanadhan has been living and working in Paris since 1968.
Viswanadhan grew up in the southern Indian coastal state of Kerala. Born into the Viswakarma caste-a group of traditional architects, painters and sculptors-, he was introduced to idol carving by his father at an early age, assisting him in the creation of floor diagrams, made of natural color pigments, mandalas and other representations of Hindu or Tantric rituals.
In 1965, he graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Madras (Chennai). After an artistic education geared towards Western art, Viswanadhan took a much more personal direction, choosing to reclaim his Indian origins by returning to the simple gestures and geometric motifs he had observed as a child, in contact with Tantric rituals and texts. Alongside the director of the Madras Fine Art School, K.C.S. Paniker and a few other graduates, he founded the "Cholamandal Artist's Village", before embarking on a trip to Europe in 1968. Upon arriving in Paris, he had a decisive encounter with Myriam Prévot, then director of the Galerie de France, who proposed a collaboration. This would lead, two years later, to his first solo exhibition in France. At the time, the gallery was among the most influential Parisian galleries, supporting the work of contemporary painters living in Paris, such as Pierre Alechinsky, Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, Alfred Manessier and Zao Wou-Ki. Viswanadhan then collaborated with gallery owner Darthea Speyer, who first presented the iconic work Sable (1976), now in the collections of the Centre Pompidou.
Viswanadhan's work has been the subject of major solo exhibitions and has been featured in numerous group shows, including in 2023 at the Lalit Kala Akademi (Chennai, India); in 2018 at the Centre Pompidou (Paris, France) and at KANAL Pompidou (Brussels, Belgium); in 2017 at the National Gallery of Modern Art (Bangalore, India); in 2016 at the Nature Morte Gallery (New Delhi, India); in 2008 at Marlborough Gallery (New York, USA); in 1998 with a traveling retrospective at the National Galleries of Modern Art in Delhi and Mumbai, the Lalit Kala Academy in Chennai and the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata (India); in 2005, at Jehangir Art Gallery (Mumbai, India); in 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000, 1996, 1993, 1989 and 1982 at Galerie Darthea Speyer (Paris, France); in 1987 at La Malmaison (Cannes, France); in 1985 at the Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Pompidou (Paris, France); in 1981, at the Centro de Bellas Artes (Maracaibo, Venezuela); in 1972, at the Art Institute (Kochi, India); in 1970 at Galerie de France (Paris, France). In 1971, he was awarded the Palette d'or Prize at the Festival International de la peinture (Cagnes-sur-Mer, France) and the following year, that of the 9th Biennale Internationale de Menton (France).
His oeuvre, which spans almost sixty years, offers a profound reflection on the relationship between form, space, light and color. His work is held in important collections such as, in France, the Musée National d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Paris), the Mobilier National (Paris); in India, the Birla Academy of Art and Culture (Kolkata), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (New Delhi), the National Lalit Kala Akademi (New Delhi), the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi).