ReSOURCE
Artists
Ravi Arupa
Ravi Arupa (b. 1951) is an artist whose family settled on the South Side of Chicago after moving from a small farm in Arkansas when he was nine years old. Inspired by images of Richard Hunt’s abstract sculptures, Frida Kahlo’s paintings, Maya Deren’s short films, and John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” (to name a few), Arupa’s creative life manifests through his work which features drawings, painting, mixed-media, sculpture, and photography. In 2005, he received his BA from Columbia College Chicago, majoring in Art and Design with a concentration in Fine Arts and a minor in Art History. His work has been featured in the 38th, 46th, and 47th Annual Black Creativity Art Exhibitions at the Museum of Science and Industry as well as the 11th Annual Hokin Honors Exhibition at Columbia College Chicago. Much like the Surrealists, Arupa instinctively finds inspiration late at night while he’s sleeping and allows that inspiration to give life and meaning to the found materials that are used in his sculptures. Instead of going to look for objects, he allows them to reveal themselves through the inspiration he receives subconsciously. Ravi Arupa is a Red Line Service artist and recently received a public commission from the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum for his Spiral (2024), which is on permanent view at the Marovitz Savanna Natural Area, Montrose Harbor, Chicago.