• by Sophie Kleber , February 12, 2010

Raghava was an artist from the beginning. After being slapped by his nun-teacher for drawing nudes as a young child, Raghava rediscovered that he could draw in 9th grade. Then, upon sealing the holistic deal with his father ("I will be disciplined, curios, learning something new everyday, hard working, self-sustaining") Raghava was allowed to quit school and become a cartoonist.

After drawing a cartoon of Osama Bin Laden and being expelled from the American cartoonist association, Raghava decided it was time to go travel. When he met a crazy Italian artist, Raghava now wanted to be a painter. He painted big, he was obessed with dancers, sold art so he could follow the dancers, and finally realised the way to make his art dance: He painted dancers to dance in front of his painting.

Raghava started designing fashion, he taught kids in the Bronx to paint and in exchange they taught him to be cool. Don't say I am sorry, say "my bad." He learned the art of billboard painting.

The greatest collaboration of his life is the one with his wife. She lived in the USA, he lived in India, and in order to earn the money for him to come to the US, she started to scheme how to sell his art to her dad's rich friends. She now manages Raghava.

And while riding high on fame and attention, Raghava's mother fell ill. The impact that this situation had on his work was not well received by his fancy friends, he fell out of favor of the public eye. And after one of his friends came out as a homosexual in India, which at that time was illegal, his art turned even violent, to the extend that he was threatened by the political elite.

He withdrew from the public life, and he made a baby. And his mother became better. And he moved to New York with his family. His work became more whimsical.

He is lighting fast. His work is his magic carpet ride.