A Riot of Colours: Reshidev RK

Reshidev RK is a man of many hats: Illustrator, artist, art director and sculptor. A fine arts student from Kerala, his style includes a lot of colour, patterns and experiments. His journey to be a part of bigger things led him to Delhi where he is an Art Director at Wieden + Kennedy. Kulture Shop catches up with him on his recent collab with BLOT! for Katalyst Music and more.

KS: How did you come to the decision that design and illustration are what you want to do?

Reshidev: I've been doodling and scribbling ever since I could hold a pencil, so to know I could take it up as an actual profession was a deal too good to turn down. Illustration and design are worlds of no limits. There are no constraints to hold you back from expressing your thoughts and ideas the way you want. And yet maintain a sense of mystique in it all. And I think the areas that you can explore with illustration are endless. From paintings to t-shirt designs and so much more. It is a gold mine.

Reshidev's love for painting Shoes and Trunks and his work for Lee Jeans

KS: Tell us about the lead up to W+K, and your favourite project you've worked on with them.

Reshidev: W+K is not your typical ad agency. Their attitude towards art was one of the major reasons I just had to be there. Be it in regular work for clients, or the many opportunities to showcase your art pieces, they're more a curator of good art than an agency. The project that is my personal favourite of all, would be leading the Indigo Airlines branding and design team. Being a young, dynamic brand with a global audience, Indigo let us play with it, resulting in a truly unique and quirky brand language, right down to the sandwich boxes.

A sample of Reshidev's work for Indigo Airlines

KS: What's it like, illustrating a magazine like Motherland, which changes size formats based on the topic and so on?

Reshidev: Working on Motherland, regardless of the page sizes, has been huge fun. The content is always topical, always relevant and lets us take a break from the advertising mill and explore the editorial space. As for the new size, it gives us a massive canvas to showcase what we end up creating. Which artist wouldn't love that!

KS: Colour, we've noticed, is super important in your work. What inspires all these mad colours we see in your work?

Reshidev: Coming from the North of Kerala, the land of Theyyams, vivid colours and patterns are all I've seen since forever. Their rich face painting, the myriad textures, and intricate designs have always inspired me to break the mold of typical graphics, mostly subconsciously.

Check out more of Reshidev's amazing work

KS: What is your relationship with music? Does it keep you company while you work?

Reshidev: I'm a dartboard when it comes to music. Everything that sounds nice sticks to me. My playlist is a smorgasbord of genres from trance to Sufi. But I'm not a great multi-tasker, so no listening while working. If you need to find me in the office, I'm the guy without headphones.

KS: What's it like working with a platform like KS? Do you feel it can change the scene a little? Tell us about your collaboration with BLOT! for Katalyst Music.

Reshidev: Kulture Shop is a smashing platform in many ways. It is not just a showcase for what we do but also helps enormously in networking with a higher profile audience. I've had the opportunity to collaborate with fashion designers, hoteliers, etc who I met through Kulture Shop. Good people, excellent art, great contacts. The scene is already changing.

About Katalyst Music, I have known Gaurav for the last 2 to 3 years and I quite like Avinash's artwork which has a South Indian Style, Temple Architecture and is similar to my style, texture, color, very detailed. I like these elements and it was very easy for me to work with them and adapt the artwork. The music was secondary, we connected from the first shot.

Check out the Electronica Art Print from Katalyst Music here.

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