Ravikumar Kashi, a multifaceted Indian artist, discusses his journey and philosophy, emphasizing art as a deeply personal yet universally resonant expression. He highlights how his work is driven by curiosity, audacity, and tenacity, shaped by diverse influences, and a unique "play mode" approach to creation that constantly evolves beyond conventional boundaries.
Summarized by Podsumo
Kashi's art is deeply intertwined with the *materiality* of paper, exploring its strength, fragility, and malleability to convey complex emotions and ideas, moving beyond traditional flat surfaces.
He approaches art-making in a *play mode*, constantly experimenting and embracing failure, rather than an "exam mode" focused on external validation, which he believes fosters genuine creativity.
Kashi views his role as a design teacher as a *critique of his own art education*, developing structured yet flexible methodologies that have profoundly influenced his artistic practice and understanding of design.
His extensive *documentation of city visual culture*, particularly flex banners, serves as a unique archive to understand ground-level social and political trends, offering insights often missed by elite art.
Having accepted *mortality and impermanence*, Kashi believes his most profound work lies ahead, fueled by *crystallized intelligence* and a liberation from insecurities, allowing for deeper, more authentic artistic expression.
"I don't know whether I am an artist or a teacher or a writer. They all mix up and feed on each other."
"I call my studio as a lab, not as a working place. I call it a lab because that is where you try out new things, fail, it doesn't matter."
"I think the suggestive part is very important. The other important aspect is all these are physical material... How does one impure that material with some of the ideas and then the decoding capacity for those materials to be seen or felt in another? That is the, I think that has taken time."