Prasad Raghavan
The Ship of Tarshish 2012 marine ply, metal sheet, duco paint 216 x 39 x 80 inch
Prasad Raghavan is an Indian artist who started his career as a graphic designer. He was born in Adoor, Kerala state of India, where he studied up to high school and finished his higher secondary education in Pandalam, a near by town. After higher secondary, he pursued graphic design at the College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Following design graduation, from 1987 to 1991, he apprenticed with his elder brother Gopi (an artist and advertising professional) in Kochi, till late 1992.
Prasad started off his artistic career by 'making posters of his movie club a:door'. But the posters that he created were not meant for conveying ideas about a particular product. They were not created for producing desire amongst the viewers either. What he attempted in his posters was to design the 'idea' of a poster. Towards this end, Prasad made use of well known films and their histories and manipulated their visual and textual codes for a renewed purpose, which in fact was not publicizing the 'product' behind it. The referential points were just pointers, as familiar visuals/images and font types to evoke a sense of affinity with the referred but they were not leading the viewer to the referred as a product. Instead, these posters created a parallel dialogue with the intended and aspired histories. In 2007, Bose Krishnamachari, a renowned artist and curator invited him to show these artworks in a show that he had curated at the Museum Gallery, Mumbai and hosted by the Guild Art Gallery. His works have been exhibited internationally, such as, Art Gwangju - South Korea, 1x1 Contemporary - Dubai, ESSL Museum - Vienna, Alcala31 - Madrid. Willem Baars Projects - Amsterdam, Zacheta National Gallery of Art - Warsaw, Contemporary Art centre - Vilnius, and Art Rotterdam. He has also exhibited his works at the First edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale 2012.
Prasad's works have found their place in the collections of The Tropen Museum, Amsterdam, ESSL Museum Vienna and the private collections elsewhere.
Prasad Raghavan lives and works in New Delhi, India.
Courtesy of prasadraghavan.com