The royal designer with extreme patience and an enduring fashion brand Raghavendra Rathore has for the first time unleashed his creative flux through the medium of paint brush and canvas. He contributes an artwork to the exhibition Creating Commonwealth, initiative by Gallery Ragini. This exhibition will bring together a total of 31 artists, not only from India but also from participating Commonwealth countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore, Pakistan, UAE and Bangladesh on the same platform. Fashionfad.in indulges in an exclusive tete-a-tete with Rathore on his new love.
Being a designer art from you does not come as a surprise but why have we not seen any of your art exhibitions before?
I have studied art extensively during my studies in New York but never had the time to actually put it on canvas or organize an exhibition of my artworks. My first love fashion and garments absorb most of my time and energy and the not so organized pieces of art that I have done over the years are scattered and sometimes kept safely by my close friends. But I am really very shy to put up an exhibition of my works. Here at the present art exhibition my contribution is one painting and maybe an installation of heirloom garments which I am still working on. But the installation is a completely different work and does not translate from my painting.
How does the depiction of commonwealth games or contemporary modern art come across through your painting?
The painting is oil on canvas weaves together the old world charm juxtaposed over new age beliefs. The idea was not to convert literally the commonwealth games but to draw a reflection of our culture. The painting has as story of a subject and an object and is infused with the vibrancy of colours.
Who have been your inspirations as a painter (artist)?
As a painter I love the works of venation artists.
Both fashion and art are creative expressions, how different are they from each other?
For me fashion and art are like writing a book and acting. Though both of them are creative forms of expression and most of the times compliment each for me they are two different jounres of my passion and I treat art and fashion at two different stages.
