A. Ramachandran graduated with a degree in Malayalam Literature from Kerala University and then pursued a diploma in Fine Arts from Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan. Initially painting in an expressionist style reflecting city life, Ramachandran turned to traditional paintings, murals and myths for inspiration. Ramachandran was awarded the Padma Bhushan Award by the Government of India in 2005. He is also Professor Emeritus at Jamia Millia Islamia University where he taught for twenty-eight years, starting in 1965.

He has represented Indian contemporary art in many significant group exhibitions in India and elsewhere, namely, Indian Triennales I, II, III and V in New Delhi; ‘Contemporary Indian Painting’ in Japan (1970); Brazil and Venezuela (1971); U.S.A. (1973); Yugoslavia, Poland, Bulgaria and Belgium (1974); Menton Biennale in France (1974); and ‘Festival of India’ exhibitions in London and Oxford (1982) and again in Switzerland (1987).

His first solo exhibition was at the Kumar Gallery, New Delhi in 1966. Since then, he has held more than fifteen large solo exhibitions, including a retrospective at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi in 2003.