How experimentation is key to creative success—insights from three artists at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath

Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 800 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.

Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath in Bengaluru recently hosted exhibitions featuring the works of three artists: Ravi Rama Rao, Rajeev MY, and Jayaram Krishnan. See our coverage of earlier exhibitions at this venue here.

In this photo essay, we share visual highlights from the exhibitions along with artist insights on their journeys, creative processes, and art appreciation in society.

“I am a keen observer of nature and its varied magnificence. In my exhibition, I sought to represent nature’s beauty in all its hues and shades,” self-taught artist Ravi Rama Rao tells YourStory.

The artworks in oil on canvas, largely in sizes of 18 x 24 inches and 24 x 36 inches, reflected a range of themes, complexity, and textures. Rao displayed over 50 of his oil paintings, priced from Rs 20,000 to Rs 45,000.

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“I started painting more as a hobby pretty late in life. I initially toyed with watercolours, and moved on to oil as a medium seeking something more challenging as a format and medium,” he explains.

His painting activity picked up momentum after his career retirement and particularly during the pandemic lockdowns. “My painting style borrows from impressionism as well as classical landscape paintings and realism,” Rao describes.

He gained more exposure and inspiration from travels to different countries, galleries, national parks, and historical places. “They all provided a fresh set of ideas, thoughts and perspective, a big boost to my artwork,” he acknowledges.

The artist's journey has been full of ups and downs. “The only solution for an artist is to learn on the job and improve techniques, colour mixing, and textures as we move from painting to painting,” he says.

“There is no easy recipe to succeed other than learning from experimentation,” Rao affirms. It is also important to jot down and follow observations, conversations, and other insights from articles into a ‘ready reckoner’ book, he advises.

He describes his artistic journey as a learning curve of theoretical reading, social media knowledge-gathering, experimentation, and practice. The journey includes a lot of encouragement as well as critiques from others.

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“Such feedback and motivation keep artists going and improve their output, without falling into self-doubt and the lethargy trap,” Rao affirms.

Showcasing his first solo exhibition at a popular venue like Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath involved a lot of effort and preparation. “There was pain and cost in terms of time and money,” he recalls.

“Success does beget pain, but in the end, the outcome does boost one’s morale to keep on going. That is what we call success,” he describes.

Rao calls for more art appreciation in India. “To get people to frequently visit galleries on their own – sometimes to view the works of unknown artists – is very hard here as compared to mature economies,” he observes.

In addition to viewing art, people also need to purchase artwork for display at homes and offices. “The more kids start to learn about art and create their own artworks, the more their parents, and thereby others, get interested in art,” Rao adds.

His future projects involve exploring portraits and abstract art, while also widening his current work in landscape paintings. “I can venture to have my second exhibition,” he adds.

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"I do customised artworks of goddesses and other subjects using oil, acrylic, water colour, and pencil. I use mediums like canvas and paper," artist Rajeev MY explains. He holds an MPhil and a PhD in visual arts.

Jayaram Krishnan, an artist whose works have been displayed at the India Art Festival and Chitra Santhe, shared some of the outstanding experiences from his artistic journey.

“I did a portrait of the legendary Bollywood singer Mohammad Rafi. It was gifted to his family members in Mumbai and was displayed in his award room. This is one of the most memorable experiences for me in my art journey and a big honour,” he proudly says.

He also painted portraits of singers Sonu Nigam and Sadguru Jaggi. His earlier works were in the Fauvism style, where artists generally use paint directly from tubes.

“For my recent exhibition, I used Fevicol tubes as one of the mediums for direct application, thus giving an embossing effect. I tried blending two genres of art in one painting, which makes a new style of its own,” Krishnan describes.

He actively uses social media to promote his artworks and exhibitions. “I take part in art competitions conducted by different art groups at national and international platforms,” he adds.

“I faced criticism when I revived my childhood hobby of art after a span of 50 years. This was the biggest challenge for me to overcome and prove as an emerging artist,” Krishnan signs off.

Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?

(All photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at the gallery.)