We recently connected with Ritu Raj and have shared our conversation below.
Ritu, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I was living in San Francisco, and March 2020, Covid lockdown happened. And we were confined to our homes. I think I needed to do something and I ordered some 2x2ft canvas, and some acrylic paint. I used to paint as a kid, and then college and professional career started and stiffled my love for art and painting. From a few smaller canvas in the year to follow it became 4x4ft to finally started painting 6x6ft, and became passionate about painting, on a chance conference to Phoenix I discovered I could actually buy a bigger home and could paint like Jackson Pollack, eventually painting became my obsession, and I left my high paying corporate job to focus on my love for exploration of the abstract and paint.
Ritu, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have created a bio, I will copy it here Ritu Raj is a painter and photographer based in Phoenix, Arizona. He was born in Delhi, India in 1964 to K.B. Goel (1930-2018), a leading art critic specializing in Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, and Premlata Goel, a professor of English Literature. Growing up in a home where art, literature, and philosophy were among the usual topics of conversation, Raj was introduced to the visual arts at an early age. In particular, he was attentive to the interests of his father, who championed abstract painting in India and befriended many of the artists who were members of the Progressive Art Group. Founded in 1947 and active through 1956, the group was considered revolutionary because its members were inspired by recent developments in abstract European and American painting, and favored abstraction because it provided them with a freedom to express themselves in ways that figuration could not. Not surprisingly, Raj made his first paintings while he was still a child, and explored the theater arts when he was a teenager.
In spite of his early fondness for art, Raj studied mathematics, management, and data processing at Delhi University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1985 and a Post-graduate degree in 1987. In 1994, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work as Vice President for Sales Consulting Services at TMP Worldwide. He became an American citizen in 1999, the year he founded Avasta, one of the pioneering Cloud computing companies. In 2001, he became a Partner at Accenture, where he developed Oracle’s Western Region High Technology Practice secured a broad client base. In 2004, Raj shifted his focus and founded Wag Hotels, a successful pet-hotel chain that expanded to nine locations. From 2009-2014, he served as CEO for OrchestratorMail, which he co-founded. The company is based on the first-of-its-kind organizational linguistics model for improving business management, email integration, and collaborative workflow. During the same period, the rideshare industry was gaining steam in the Bay Area and, from 2009-2011, Raj oversaw product management for Sidecar, a company that introduced today’s popular transportation system to a new market. Raj’s final position in the corporate world was as Vice President for Corporate Development at Diamond Foundry, where he worked from 2015-2022.
During the pandemic lockdown, Raj decided that it was time to return to his first love, painting. So in 2022 he relocated to Phoenix, where he maintains a studio and devotes himself fulltime to abstract painting. Influenced by the critical views of his father, who wrote “The sublime is not to be found in nature; it is in us,” and “color implicates not only surface values, texture and tone, but the responsive echo of the presence of the other, the ontology of the symbol and its acts,” Raj considers abstraction to be a perfect vehicle for joyful self-expression and soulful connection to the unknown.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
ARTIST STATEMENT My paintings reflect my view that art is a vehicle for probing the nature of human existence. Growing up as the son of the acclaimed art critic K.B. Goel, who was a champion of Abstract Expressionist painting in India, I was introduced at an early age to the concept that the artist is an explorer who seeks to uncover universal truths and give visual form to the ineffable. Although I spent many years working in the business world, I always approached my tasks using creativity and abstract thinking. In 2020, while in lockdown during the pandemic, I realized that it was time for me to become a fulltime artist and apply these strategies to my first love, which is painting.
My process is improvisational. Although I may visualize an image in my mind before I begin to paint, I work spontaneously and enjoy watching the imagery unfold before my eyes. In keeping with the idea that I am an explorer, I employ a variety of mediums, including photographs printed on canvas and embellished with paint. My paintings are also stylistically diverse, as they reflect my many moods. My abstract imagery ranges from gestural to geometric, although occasionally something figurative will emerge. I prefer bold, vibrant colors because I want my work to be joyful and awe inspiring.
Philosophically, my art is influenced by the theories of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). Heidegger argued that art is an organic process for uncovering explanations of being, for revealing the deeper meanings of life that are normally obscured in our daily routines. Through my art, I seek to challenge perceptions, evoke emotions, and invite reflection on such topics as reality, consciousness, and spirituality. Ultimately, I hope that my paintings will inspire others to embrace the beauty of abstraction in both art and life.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
In my recent travel to Spain I was introduced to how artists can make an impact of society and the world in general, spent a lot of time with Miro and Picasso, who were not just gifted artists but they made a difference in the world.
I hope that my abstract art helps people uncovering the truth in both living and life. I am very inspired by Heidegger “Heidegger challenged the notion that art merely imitates reality. Instead, he proposed that art reveals the “truths of being” that are often hidden from us in our everyday existence. These truths are not straightforward facts or propositions but are deeper ways of understanding ourselves and our place in the world. Through art, we can glimpse aspects of existence that remain concealed in our daily routines, enabling us to gain new insights into the nature of reality.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rituart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ritu.us/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ritu.raj
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rituraj/
Image Credits
Ritu Raj