Art schools don’t always an artist make. And artist Raghava K.K. has showed that you don’t even have to attend one to prove yourself. It’s all about having an idea, and how creatively you approach that idea to form a shape on the canvas,
sometimes on your computer. Raghava calls himself a part of the league of post-contemporary artists, for whom singularity is a myth. They like to perform multiple roles and seek creative and ideological freedom far more than their predecessors did. For them, versatility is not just a term that defines their life but also the work they do. They are painters, musicians, performers, teachers, fathers, businessmen and a lot more.
This complexity of identity has always found an empowering presence in New York-based Raghava’s works too. Like his two previous shows (Ashvita Art Gallery, Chennai, in 2010 and Brooklyn Bound R Train at Art Musings in 2009), his new show, Exquisite Cadaver, currently showing at the Art Musings gallery in Mumbai, is an extension of that idea, with the addition of the diasporic dilemma that the artist finds himself in.
“I have always been interested in the complexity of identity, especially as it relates to the uses and purposes of ‘history’,” Raghava says. “To me, history seems an inadequate form of record keeping. It is, rather, a fabulous imaging tool. In these works, I present an approach to history that, I feel, better represents the fragmented self, appropriating the pedagogy of history, historic events, nostalgia, psychological archetypes, etc,” he says.
The man began his artistic journey as a cartoonist while in Class 9. Two years later, in 1997, he opened his own cartoon school, after passing his Class 11 exams. He didn’t want to pursue education, seeing no point in it. “I wanted to travel and see the world, do my own thing,” he says. But since he had promised his parents, he sat for and passed his Class 12 exams, and never looked at any other school afterwards. But his education continued outside school. He would spend his time drawing cartoons and meeting artists who saw his creative genius and suggested that he take teaching art seriously. Quite an irony, that the man who despised conventional education turned into a teacher himself.
Raghava travelled across the world, living in Rome and Italy before settling in New York three years ago. His first solo show was at the Indian Embassy in Rome. “It was quite an extraordinary experience for me. Before that, an
art show was just a show about art to me, but that day, I realised that it’s more far than that. It’s not just an exhibition of talent; it’s like presenting a thesis. You can’t just put up your work and sit back; you have to be able to present your work to the people, explain them the idea behind it. There’s more to art than just its aesthetic side,” says the artist, adding, “The journey so far has been amazing.”
Raghava says post-contemporary artists like him are very different from the older generation of artists, who focussed mainly on creative pursuit. “The older generation was insecure, people who abused power for their gains. But we are using power democratically. What they did, I call it intellectual masturbation. When we have an idea, we want to share it with the world. We want creative satisfaction as much as we want the mundane things in life. We want to be commercially successful, we want recognition and we want to live a good life. And we don’t hide it,” he says.
Whether it’s a children’s book, a painting, a cartoon, or presenting a lecture, Raghava’s idea is always
to create a new visual
experience. “There is no high or low art. I love art films, as much as I love Rajinikanth and Govinda. And I’m not ashamed of it. This is who I am, it could be good, bad or ugly, and it applies to my work too,” the artist adds.
The show will open on October 20 and be on till November 30.