Iconic & Nostalgic
Ravi Raman likens his arrival in America at the age of five to television going from black and white to high-definition, forty-foot tall, 3-D IMAX. Inundated by American pop culture – television, movies, literature, fashion, art, and especially music – he consumed all of it with such a voracious appetite that its influences still permeate each of his paintings.
Raman characterizes his works generally as “contemporary art,” and, as whim and inspiration strike, he often veers into Pop Art, abstract, expressionism, and minimalism. The common strand in his eclectic works is his penchant for arresting colors, frequent nods to 1960s and 1970s nostalgia, as well as an ever-present edgy tinge of rock & roll ethos.
Raman draws inspiration for his paintings from disparate sources ranging from music to literature to social media to pop culture. Influences as expansive as Picasso and Warhol, Jagger and Richards, and Hemingway and Fitzgerald all collide on his canvas.
Raman’s work has been shown at solo and group exhibits at venues and galleries throughout Washington DC, New York City, Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts. His Love In Six Lines series has been featured as large-size, street-art murals in various neighborhoods in Washington, DC. His works also are in collectors’ homes throughout the country.
Raman was born in India and was raised and educated in New Jersey. He is based currently in Washington, DC.
