Thota Vaikuntam was born in 1942 in Karimnagar district, Telangana. Hyderabad, in 1970, and then another in Painting and Printmaking from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, in 1972. Vaikuntam paints colorful and elaborately dressed Telangana region men and seductive women. His muse is the sensuous and voluptuous women of Telangana with their omnipresent vermilion bindis, draped in colourful sarees that highlight their dusky skin. Particularly Telangana women are frequent subjects for his works. His obsession can be traced back to his childhood when he used to be fascinated by the male artists who used to impersonate female characters in the traveling theatre groups that performed in his village. He admits finding the women of his village very sensuous and that he only attempts to capture their vibrancy. He generally uses only primary colors, as he believes that composite colors do not exist in nature and are, therefore, unnatural. As he explains, “I like using rich primary colors, which give a sense of character and depth to my paintings. Like reds saffron and even orange, because these are essentially Indian colors. He doesn't like using mixing colors, because he thinks they are not natural. He held his first solo exhibition at the Kala Bhavan in Hyderabad in 1973, and since then has had regular shows at various galleries in Hyderabad, Bangalore, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. His most recent shows have been ‘Yes, I am He’s organized by India Fine Art at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2007; ‘Telangana: Inheritance of a Dream Lost’ at Art Alive, New Delhi, also in 2007; and ‘Mukham’ at Sanskriti Art Gallery, Kolkata, in 2006. Among his several honors are the National Award for Painting, which Vaikuntam received in 1993, and the Biennale Award from Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, which he received in 1988-89.