Rakesh Vijay (22 March 1970), professionally known as R. Vijay, is a

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

miniaturist A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

best known for his collaborative work with American artist Waswo X. Waswo. R. Vijay received little formal training and his miniature painting style has been described as naïve, though his works have drawn attention and praise from various critics throughout India. Early in life Rakesh was tutored by traditional miniaturists such as Sukhdev Singh Sisodiya and Laxmi Narayan Sikaligar. Later he developed his own style, which has been called an eclectic mix of Persian and Mogul styles, along with a bit of the Company School of Indo-British art. The artist also takes inspiration from his great-uncle Ram Gopal Vijayvargia, a well-known Rajasthani miniaturist who had practiced his art in Jaipur, and became widely acclaimed in India not only for his paintings but also for his many short stories published in Hindi. In 2004 R.Vijay began doing collaborative work with the American Waswo X. Waswo. Taking concepts suggested by Waswo, Vijay creates a series of miniatures that depict a foreigner’s life in India, complete with a wide variety of emotions and predicaments. In this collaborative work the two artists pull together an extremely disparate collection of cultural references, from both the East and the West. The two artists take joint credit for this body of work, with R. Vijay signing each painting and Waswo embossing his initials. This work has been exhibited along with the collaborations Waswo has done with photographic hand-colorist

Rajesh Soni Rajesh Soni (6 August 1981) is an artist living in Udaipur, Rajasthan, who has become known primarily for his abilities to hand paint digital photographs. He is the son of artist Lalit Soni, and the grandson of Prabhu Lal Soni, who was once cour ...

under the exhibition title "A Studio in Rajasthan".Patrick Guicherd (catalogue essay) ''A Studio in Rajasthan'', Coromandel Art Gallery, 2009

References

External links

A New Avatar for Indian Art, Giriraj Agarwal

The Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by K. N. Guruswamy, a liquor businessman from Ballari and was launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printe ...

Waswo X. Waswo

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vijay, Rakesh 1970 births Living people 20th-century Indian painters People from Udaipur Indian male painters Painters from Rajasthan 20th-century Indian male artists