Recent Work
"Repetitive Stress" - wood, metal, concrete - April, 2011 - 8"x36.5"x8"
Artist's comments
"Continuing on the theme of the vulnerable body, I explore a condition that unfortunately I've had to deal with: RSI - repetitive stress injury. While much of my recent work focuses on the spike element as a symbol of injury, the focus of this piece is the absence of the spike and what it left behind: a hole - a hole that's been worn away. That's what RSI feels like, a dull pins-and-needles feeling as your nerves wear away. In many previous pieces, I left remnants of the workings of hand-tools, while in "Imprint" I explored a more refined texture. I decided to combine both in this piece to symbolize the breakdown of nerves beyond the injury - i.e. in your hands. I loved working in cedar. Its knots and grain remind me of muscle fiber."
"Labor Day" - wood - January, 2011 - 16"x35"x20"
Artist's comments
"This piece is loosely related to "Fatigue". Both deal with the theme of burnout. This piece applies that theme to the plight of the modern-day office worker. When Labor Day (the holiday) was first established, Americans toiled away in factories. Here in New England, we see remnants of that era in our run-down mill towns. Now we live in a global service-oriented economy. Instead of assembly lines, we live in cubicles and sit in chairs, something seemingly innocuous, but a symbol of the daily grind for countless office drones. One of the things I like most about this piece is that it transforms as you approach it. From afar as you face it, you may not even notice the shadowy spikes and just see a chair. Step closer and the grain of the seat and back becomes clearer, as do the dark stains literally bleeding through it. Once you're close enough to walk around it and kneel down, the spikes are front-and-center. They aren't razor sharp, but their rough splintery forms invite you closer, but repel you as well."
"Imprint" - wood - October, 2010 - 18"x43"x12" - SOLD
Artist's comments
"This piece is the second I've done on the theme of motherhood (the first being "Madre"). Many of my sculptures are very gestural, with clear evidence of a handworked surface. For this piece, I wanted to explore a new direction: smooth, refined geometric shapes. The form is obviously suggestive of a mother and child. One can't escape the Christian references, but that is not what I was intending here. This piece is more about the universality of motherhood, as implied by the blank faces of the mother and child. I wanted to juxtapose contrasting ideas in my selection of materials and motifs: the heaviness of the oak against the airiness of the butterflies; the heaviness of motherhood against the anxious joy many feel (literally "butterflies"). I chose the title "Imprint" because my use of oak (a very grainy wood) stained uniformly, was meant to imply that the figures were literally cut from the same grain, and drive home the idea of an unbreakable bond. Incidentally in genetics, a mother passing traits down to her child is called "maternal imprinting"."
"Fatigue" - wood, glass - August, 2010 - 24"x34"x4.5"
Artist's comments
"How many times have you caught yourself saying, "Can't do that, I'm not in my 20s anymore." I made this piece as a reflection of that sentiment, but also as a reminder to myself to stop saying it. Art is an important part of my life and even if I sometimes feel "fatigued" in my 30s, that's no reason to quit. Art may be my passion, but everyone has their own that they need to embrace despite the onset of fatigue. I chose to use shards of glass in cool colors to reflect the very unique character of fatigue; it sometimes reveals itself as a sharp pain, like a pinched nerve, but overall it's a very cool and numbing pain."
Previous Work
"Suddenly the boom was over, and all that was left were" - business cards, thread - 12"x42"x8"
Artist's comments
"I made my "Agency pants" soon after quitting my job at an Internet services firm. I spent 2 1/2 years there and watched it grow way too fast through the Internet heyday, then take a complete nose-dive. After I left the company, there were so many emotions rolling around inside, from anger to jealousy to sadness. It's hard to watch something you've devoted so much time to fall apart, and take many of your friends with it. I wanted to express that in sculpture and I kept coming back to "pants". It just made sense: Losing your job is like losing your pants, it leaves you naked. And the business cards complete the piece. Business cards are a status symbol; people love flashing them around. They're something that people hide behind too...like clothes. On a lighter note, it's just hilarious to think about a white collar worker forced to clothe himself in business cards to get by. I also thought pants were a nice metaphor for the Internet world because, as I sat there in front of my sewing machine, I thought, "So this is what a sweatshop feels like"...I laughed to myself cuz Internet firms are sometimes called "webshops"."
"Madre" - wood, metal - 7.5"x37"x6.5" - NFS
Artist's comments
""Madre", a.k.a "the Mother piece", is pretty dear to me. It's about standing tall under pressure, even when it seems like the world tries to scar you. I think there's a bit of this spirit in all women, including my own mother. As a man, it's something I can't ever fully understand, but can still appreciate nonetheless."
"Precious Objects" - wood, leaves - 24"x60"x12" - NFS
Artist's comments
""Precious Objects" is a monument to nature. Three leaves: a maple, a beech, and an oak...the three trees that loomed around our house growing up. Billions of leaves fall and decay everyday; each is a work of art worthy of a pedestal...so I decided to give one to these three. Like little jewels, I've protected them in these personalized boxes. They've actually done a pretty good job preserving them over the years."
"Release" - plaster, metal - 18"x18"x10"
Artist's comments
""Release" is a pretty personal piece. It's about changing your perspective a little, not letting things fester inside you...getting things off your chest. At one point in my life, I thought, "Y'know what? This is gonna drive me crazy. I need to stop dwelling on things and start living life." And what do ya know, that's just what I did."
"By residents, usually, Bawlmer" - ceramics, paper, wood - 34"x13"x2"
Artist's comments
"This piece is dedicated to my hometown. One day, I was looking something up in the dictionary and came across the entry for "Baltimore". I noticed that in the pronunciation key, there was a special note: "by residents usu 'bol-tE-"mor or 'bol-m[upside-down e]r." After a little research...some tedious research, I figured out that it was the only word in the entire dictionary with such a designation. I love listening to accents; they act like a bond between people. This piece is all about that bond and its origins. The clay blocks remind me of the alphabet blocks we used to play with as toddlers, when we were first learning how to talk. The map of the Chesapeake behind it reminds me of an old explorer's map from the 17th century, when the seeds were planted that started this rich fabric of accents we have today. And the grit and grime? That's just pure Bawlmer."
"Temptation" - glass, wood - 12"x12"x12"
Artist's comments
"This piece has more of a feeling behind it than a story. I wanted to take a beautiful feminine object like a wine glass and turn it into something dangerous, yet still beautiful. The light in the base creates such a hypnotic effect that people are immediately drawn to it when it's on display. I actually had to put up a sign because too many people were tempted to touch it."
"A device for instilling faith" - wood, rope - 4"x6"x9" - SOLD
Artist's comments
"This is a tongue-in-cheek piece about forced devoutness. I thought to myself how crazy it would be for someone to create a device for forcing people to pray. The box, sized for my own hands, is hollow and opens on hinges when unbound."
"Tuesday morning, rush hour, 9/11" - wood, metal, concrete - 24"x48"x12"
Artist's comments
"This was the centerpiece for my show "Layers" in Winston-Salem, NC. What can I say? Those events took a piece out of me too. The dark scarred wood is suggestive of unimaginable pain and suffering. A subtlety about this piece that I did not want to go unnoticed was the physique of the figure. I did not want to create a "David" in this piece, I wanted to create an ordinary middle-aged man, representative of the everyday people, no different than you and I, that died that day."
"Fear" - wood, metal, concrete - 30"x38"x30"
Artist's comments
"I have to thank my 9th grade geometry teacher, because this piece was an exercise in that subject! The piece is about being trapped by fears, both common and clinical phobias. The figure is trapped in a tessellated cage of sharp "fears". He is unscathed - and that's the danger of fears, they prevent one from trying to escape them. The "fears" are sharpened on both ends; they keep people in and they keep people out."
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Art has been a large part of Rajiv Ramaiah's life since an early age. As a child and throughout his teenage years in Baltimore, Rajiv was classically trained in graphite and pastel. After enrolling at Brown University, his interest in two-dimensional mediums continued to flourish through charcoal and acrylic. Since graduating with a degree in Visual Arts, Rajiv has embraced two mediums: sculpture and the digital arts.
While sculpting, he enjoys working in wood, plaster, metal, and mixed media. In his choice of materials and subject matter, Rajiv tries to tell a story (about his life or others') that is universal. His sculptures have been described as gestural, a testament to his foundation in two-dimensional mediums like pastel and charcoal (when his work was described as "sculptural").
In the digital arts, his work also tells a story, this time through subway-map inspired designs. Perhaps they're a bit too familiar to the urban dweller, but Rajiv's always been fascinated by them. The way that they distill complexity down to a simple bold geometry is mesmerizing. The story told through each map isn't immediately obvious at first glance. There's an element of surprise in his pieces that captivates viewers when they realize they aren't just looking at a subway map.
Previous show venues include Bromfield Gallery in Boston, MA; LACDA (LA Center for Digital Art); the CCAE Gallery in Cambridge, MA; the SCATV Gallery in Somerville, MA; Emmanuel College's "Gallery 5" in Boston, MA; the "Stone and Plank Gallery" in Smithfield, RI; and "Harmony Studios" in Winston-Salem, NC. Rajiv lives in Somerville, MA with his wife, Anupama.
Reach Rajiv at:
14 Clyde St.
Somerville, MA 02145
Commissions accepted.
© 2012 Rajiv Ramaiah. All Rights Reserved.