What's so ridiculous about Ridiculous Copycats?

A horse is painted against a pink and black background with a smiling monkey on its mane, band-aids on its rump. Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls is flying through the air with a 'Chemical' labelled test-tube in her hand, while Olive Oyl from Popeye appears to be running near the horse's forelegs and a pot-bellied baby is lifting weights near the horse's tail... This mix of animals and cartoons in Raghava KK's painting—Another Knot In The String Of Time, A Good Three Minutes Ahead Of Me—is intriguing. The painting, which is part of his Ridiculous Copycats collection is on display at Art Musings in Mumbai. You wonder about the name—Ridiculous Copycats.

The title, he says, "refers to the process of replication or reproduction of a species, an ideology, society, history... The title is whimsical and the objective is to remind us to take ourselves lightly and be open to making mistakes".

In Ridiculous Copycats, Raghava explores the ideas of evolution and progress through errors in replication. "When we think of advancement of a society, ideology, religion, etc., we assume improvement. What I find interesting is that evolution is most often caused by small errors and mistakes that lead to diversity," he tells us.

In Raghava's paintings, iconic cartoons and popular memes are placed beside prominent historical figures in a space where each character transcends its usual association and takes on new identities. He uses these memes and cartoons to create works that don't take themselves too seriously. Like the historic court jester, he believes that an artist has the ability to communicate serious issues in the most powerful way using comic pathos. His works tell a story of the evolution of a species from birth to dominance using a graphic-novel style narrative. The story begins simply and becomes more and more complex as the universe it portrays becomes more and more diverse. The series also explores the continuously shifting power balance between the individual and society and the rise of the non-traditional leader.

"I wanted to point out that inside all of us are disparate influences from mundane to profound that make us who we are. I wanted to bring to light the complex mix of different ideologies that shape our consciousness. We all love Rajinikanth and at the same time read (Carl) Jung. This is what makes life interesting. I refer to history, mythology, cartoons, memes and art history itself to recreate a post post-modern document of what shapes our thoughts and actions," shares the 35-year-old artist, who has been working on this particular show for about three years. The Bangalore-born, self-taught artist began as a cartoonist in 1997, and now shuffles between India and the US.

"These works reflect my passion for bringing together art, science and technology," says the multidisciplinary artist, who started a tech company, Flipsicle, about a year-and-a-half ago. "I believe that it's very important that technology learns from other disciplines, as today, technologists are no longer just engineers solving logistical problems. They are making decisions for us about the way we live, act, think, build relationships, the way we consume products and information, and most importantly, the way we build knowledge and see ourselves".

Some of his ideas behind Ridiculous Copycats come from his immersion in the tech world. "I am fascinated to see how bringing together ideas from art, science, and technology can result in a completely new understanding of the world."
 

(The exhibition is on till September 20 at Art Musings, Colaba)