Artist statement
Art is my escape and my sanctuary. It helps me make sense of life and gives me peace. It is like going back repeatedly to a safe place of nature, trees, landscape, color and texture, the main elements notable in my work. Occasionally, you will see a face or a human body in some works as well.
In a complex world, I am on the lookout for beauty, peace, and order wherever I can. Trying to find order in chaos, beauty in ugliness, and peace in the stresses and strains of life. Through art, I make sense of the world and interpret it to find my own meaning.
I explore the connection between art and emotion. Moreover, you will find a story in my painting. I am also a published writer, and storytelling comes naturally to me. Not surprisingly, stories have found their way into my paintings as well.
With a long history of art practice and learning to paint, my preferred medium of expression is acrylic and oil on canvas. I draw a lot from nature and its interpretation.
My earliest memory of art is during elementary school, when I attended a class on still life and shadows. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and subsequent school painting projects were pleasant memories. By high school, I was doing lot of landscapes and also craft projects. Always I was creating something. I also read a lot and directed plays with friends and neighborhood kids.
Then college and university happened, and I passed MA in Sociology and entered the publishing industry. I worked at a newspaper, and then at a book publisher for a few years, and wrote stories and published a book as well. In the year 2000, due to life changing personal events, I realized I wanted to paint and become a professional artist. By now, I was able to afford paints and canvas, and thence my art journey began earnestly.
Bio/CV
Education: MA (Sociology), Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India
D.O.B. 1970
Anu Rajkumari is an artist and writer engaged in her artistic journey ever since she was a child. She was born in India, where she had participated in group and solo art shows, and after she immigrated to the US in 2008, she continued her pursuit. She had a book of fiction published in 2004 (Rupa & Co) and published a book of poems as well, apart from numerous writings in newspapers and magazines.
She works on oil and acrylic, and sometimes in mixed media as well.
Solo exhibitions:
2009, Coffee Cat Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
2007, Press Club Gallery, New Delhi, India
2006, Triveni Gallery, New Delhi, India
Group Exhibitions:
2024, Imagination Expressed, Museum on Main, Pleasanton, CA, USA
2024 FAA Juried Art show, Fremont, California, USA.
2024, March Online art auction, Chinwe Russell Gallery, liveauctioneers.com
2018, Pleasanton Art League Fall Members’ Exhibit, Harrington Gallery, Pleasanton, CA, USA
2012, Juried member show, March-May, Buenaventura Art Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2012, Juried member show, April-May, Harbor Village Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2012, Celebrating Moms, April-May, Harbor Village Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2012, Gateway to the Channel Island (juried) show, Harbor Village Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2012, Hot Summer Nights (juried show), Harbor Village Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2012, Member juried show, July-Sept, Harbor Village Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2012, 'Splash of Color-2', Juried show, Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura, CA, USA
2012, 'Harvest', Juried show, Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura, CA, USA
2012, 'Summer Jazz and Art', Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce, Santa Paula, CA, USA
2012, 'Arts in the Park', Ventura Chamber of Commerce, Ventura, CA, USA
2011, Artist Union Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2011, Sushi Fresh, Camarillo, CA, USA
2011, Juried member show, Harbor Village Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2011, Calendar show, Harbor Village Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA
2008, Lokayata Gallery, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India
2008, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi, India
2008, Faulkner Art Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2008, Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show, CA
2007, Purva Sanskritik Kendra, New Delhi
2007, Travancore Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
2007, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi, India
Affiliations:
Pleasanton Art League, Pleasanton, CA
Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
Teaching: Paint classes in Bottle & Bottega
Commercial sales: hand-painted T-shirts in People Tree,
Connaught Place, New Delhi, 2000-2007
Publications:
“Faces, Friends and Other Stories”, Rupa & Co, 2004
“The Glazed Bowl: Poems”, Amazon.
“Every canvas is a piece of improvement”, Women’s Era, January 2008
Collections:
Partnerships in Community Living, Inc, Oregon, WA
Svetlana Sh, Pleasanton, CA
Ravinder Sethi and Manpreet Sethi, Livermore, CA
Prachi Joshi and Nilesh Sarawate, Pleasanton, CA
Sriganesh Meenakshisundaram and Subha Sriganesh, San Ramon, CA
Natasha Bakshi and Ankur Bakshi, Tracy, CA
Rupa Narayanan & Suresh Rajagopalan, an Jose, CA
Uma Shankar, Livermore, CA