Raviraj (artist)

Biography
Raviraj hails from Hasthampatti in Salem District of Tamil Nadu. His parents are J.B.Seshachalam, mother Ranilakshmi.

His early education was perfunctory but Raviraj’s love of drawing was evident even at this stage. Raviraj began his primary education at Chennai and moved to Namakkal. He completed his school education at Government high school, Namakkal. After high school, he studied B.Sc., (Botany) at Aringar Anna Arts College, Namakkal (1981), M.B.A (1985),  B.F.A., - obtained First Class with Distinction – Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai (2006),  M.A (JMC) (2007),  M.Phil., Bharathiar University (Educational Technology)(2011),  M.V.A (Painting)- Karnataka State Open University, Mysore (2014), M.F.A (Painting) Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.

He started off by painting cinema hoardings and signboards. He first came into the limelight as a painter in the late1980’s. In 1996, Raviraj’s first solo exhibition was held at Coimbatore and soon became popular.

Apart from mastering the art of Painting, Raviraj is also trained in Music under Shri. Krishnamoorthy and Bharathanatyam under Vimala Chandrasekar at Shivanjali. He underwent rigorous training for three years in Bharatha Natyam and Vocal Music under the able tutelage of eminent teachers. He has also been closely associated with other great masters in the field. But unfortunately, he was not able to continue his Music and Dance training. Completed his Tamil Nadu Government Technical Teacher’s certificate course in 1984

Marriage and children
He married Nirmala Raviraj in 1991 and has a son Vigneshraj (b.1992) - Daughter in law Vidhya Vigneshraj and Grandson Viyaanraj.V.

Career
S .Raviraj, first began his career as an Art teacher at Zion Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Kodaikanal and Bharathiya Vidhya Bhavan’s Gandhi Vidhyashram. There he taught Visual Arts.

From 1986 to 1995 he served as an Artist-cum-Photographer at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Communication Center, Coimbatore. During this time he established Lalit Kala kshetra in 1992 with 2 masters and 4 students.

He resigned his job in 1996 and went to Saudi Arabia and worked as an Art Director at Dar Okaz Advertising - Printing & Publishing, Jeddah for two years. After returning from Saudi Arabia he started educating students in a high standard of Visual Art.

Now, under Raviraj’s meticulous training over 1000s of students are well placed all over India, Singapore, England, Germany and the United states of America. His disciples have participated in major Art shows at the National and International level.

Founded “Ovia Sandhai” – in 11th January 2009 – First of its kind in Tamil Nadu for the welfare of Artists and to establish the art market in and around Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry with the help of Shankar Vanavarayar and Padma Bhushan Dr. N. Mahalingam.

Established “KALAGRAM” - First of its kind in Tamil Nadu –for the promotion of Art & Culture, dedicated to Public at Thondamuthur.

Formulated Syllabus for Art Education – for Classes VI to X – 2018 for the Government of Tamil Nadu – School Education Department.

Formulated Syllabus for BFA (Painting) 4 years / MFA (Painting) 2 years – Semester Pattern – CBCS – Choice Based Credit System – for Bharathiar University -2017.

Founder of “COIMBATORE ART FOUNDATION” – for promotion of art among Indian Youth. Editor - “ ART BEATS” – a quarterly Art Journal

Published works
Raviraj has authored more than 30 books that includes Art Fundamentals, Winning with Handwriting, Drawing Teachers and Dictionary of Art Design. Most of his books were published by New Century Book House Pvt. Ltd., Chennai and few books were published by his own publication called Vignesh Publications.