Art Portfolio: Contemporary and Traditional

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Ragini Prasad works in contemporary art from her studio in San Francisco Bay Area, California. She is inspired by traditional influences in contemporary art. She works mostly in themes of femininity, spirituality, where each painting is an articulation of myth and reality of relations to nature.

Ragini is an accredited mithila artist from National Institute of Mithila Art, Darbhanga, Bihar, India. Her paintings are influenced by Madhubani technique as she paints her contemporary compositions. Ragini’s journey with Madhubani Art is a skill learnt through generations of artists in her family that used this technique of art.

Madhubani Art (or Mithila painting) is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent - India and Nepal. Madhubani paintings were originally done with a variety of tools, including fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks and using natural dyes and pigments. It is characterized by its eye-catching geometrical patterns. Madhubani paintings mostly depict people and their association with nature and scenes and deities from the ancient epics. This traditionally created by the women of various communities in the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent. 

In her words, “I joined Gallery9 in 2021 summer. It has played a key role in my art journey as I learn through our visitors to the gallery what intrigues and fascinates them. Gallery9 has a high bar of the quality of art and it has been a special moment to visit the Gallery each month as the art refreshes. Each first Friday of the month it’s magical to stop by the gallery with live music in the downtown. I believe galleries play a key role in our lives as it brings together the community and artist giving a forum to local artists. Art is statement, like a piece of jewelry that speaks about us individually and local artists give an opportunity for everyone to make such a statement about themselves.”