Rohitash Rao Makes Wonderful, Whimsical Art Out Of Trash

An art director, film director, illustrator of three incredible children’s books, maker of multiple music videos, short films, advertisements, as well as fine art—it’s difficult to pick which of Rohitash Rao’s many artistic talents we admire the most. Born in Hyderabad, Rao grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and has a long list of accomplishments and laurels in his ever-growing career in the art world. One that’s already so superfluous, it’s hard to imagine that he started off as a chemistry major.

“My parents encouraged me to pursue art as a hobby, but NOT a career. So my first year of college I was a chemistry major. I absolutely hated it. I was going to drop out of college if I couldn’t do something art-related,” he tells Homegrown. “So after much angst, my parents discovered the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. I was thrilled they found a great art school for me. When the school asked me what kind of art I wanted to do, I said ‘Everything!’ They said, great, go into advertising, you’ll learn how to do everything. And they were right.”

From his large body of work, however, it’s his TRASHart that stood out to us, as seen on his Tumblr page. “The TRASHart thing came about when I was a kid. My parents weren’t willing to spend a lot of money on art supplies, mainly canvases, so I had to paint on what we had lying around in the garage. I often found pieces of wood and old metal cans to paint on,” he tells us. “Later, when I lived in New York, I painted on stuff I found in the street. I started selling these pieces as ‘ArtForBeer’ — I would meet friends in bars and exchange a TRASHart piece for beer. After my 6th or 7th beer they just started handing me money. That was the beginning of my art career.”

There are a lot of pop-culture references you spot in his work, as well as tongue-in-cheek commentary on various aspects of culture, society and politics, both local and global. Painting on found cigarette boxes, pieces of wood, fast food cups, bottles, metal, spray cans, among other things, Rao’s works are as witty and vibrant in colours as they are relevant to the ongoings of our age. For example, you have a replication of a Hollywood shark film poster with reference to Donald Trump and American politics, a portrait of Bill Cosby, a lovely tribute to musician Prince, and so much more done in a whimsical and surreal fashion.

“My only real influence, or inspiration really, is observing people. Watching how we interact with our surroundings with our cell phones in our hands is a pretty funny way to go through life. I often say my work is about our consumption — I make paintings about what we’re consuming on things that we throw away,” says Rao. Anything and everything is inspiring. The idea for painting often comes from the piece itself...it might be a weird face that I see in the wood pattern, or some lettering that I can make out in a stain. Then I find some commentary about our culture and suddenly a painting is born,” muses Rao.

It’s hard to pick favourites from Rao’s TRASHart series, but we did our best to curate a few out of so very many spectacular pieces from his body of work and posted images of them below, with permission from the incredible artist. You can view more of his work on his Tumblr page - trust us, you’re definitely going to want to follow and bookmark it.

Check out his full works on his website

[These images have been published with permission from the artist, and are copyrighted by Rohitash Rao. They cannot be reproduced without permission, and any such illegal use of these images is in violation of copyright terms.]