Artist · Saraswati Foundation Collection
A. Rajeswara Rao
A painter of people, social performance and the shifting theatre of contemporary life. Rao’s vivid compositions bring humour and close observation to questions of aspiration, identity and belonging.
Discover the artist“People have been my muses – always.”
A. Rajeswara Rao, artist statement
Featured work
A work from the collection
Explore the Foundation’s inventory listing for this work and its availability.
View artworkRecognition
Awards & honours
Fellowships and distinctions
Rao’s documented distinctions include a National Scholarship (1991), Junior Fellowship from the Government of India (1993–95), Camlin Art Foundation recognition (1999), and Senior Fellowship from the Government of India (2005).
Dates and titles follow the artist’s published profile and exhibition record.
The artist
Biography
Born in Vizianagaram in 1960, A. Rajeswara Rao studied painting at Andhra University, completing his BFA in 1983, and went on to earn an MFA from Hyderabad Central University in 1990.
His practice centres on people and the ways they inhabit social worlds: their ambitions, rituals, self-fashioning and everyday gestures. Rather than narrate a single story, Rao builds scenes from observation, memory and the visual language of contemporary popular culture. The result is witty and layered, inviting viewers to look again at the performances that shape modern life.
Rao is also known for reverse painting on acrylic sheet, a process in which drawing and colour are developed on the reverse surface and backed with paper, creating luminous depth.
Across decades
Exhibitions
Solo presentations
- 1996 · Sakshi Gallery, Bengaluru
- 1997 · Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
- 2000 · Gallery Espace, New Delhi
- 2003 · Forum Art Gallery, Chennai
- 2008 · Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Selected group shows
- 2000 · Human Form and Art, Lalit Kala Akademi
- 2001 · The Human Factor, The Guild, Mumbai
- 2002 · The Deccan Connections, Apparao Art Gallery
- 2007 · The Indian Story, London
- 2008 · India Art Collection, Dubai
Saraswati Foundation
In the collection
Artist biography and selected exhibition details are drawn from the artist’s published profile and events record. Foundation collection listing linked above.