Devraj Dakoji

Dakoji Devraj graduated from the College of Fine Arts and Architecture, Hyderabad in 1965. Lalit Kala Akademi, Andhra Pradesh gave Dakoji a scholarship to attend Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda where he studied printmaking. In 1975, he received British Council scholarship to attend Chelsea School of Arts, London for postgraduate studies. From 1976 -77, Dakoji travelled extensively in England and Europe. He joined the Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A in 1992. He has been a part of several important national and international exhibitions. He was recently part of ‘The Print: Matter in Matrix’, Gallery Latitude 28 at Sridharani Gallery, New Delhi (2020) and ‘Heartbeat of the Void’, solo exhibition, Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi (2019). Some of his participations include, ‘Master Printers and Master Pieces’, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (1996); International Luova Grafika Creative 93, Finland (1993); International Biennale, Havana, Cuba (1991); International Exhibition of Graphic Arts, Frenchen, Germany (1990); U. N. O. Group Show, New Delhi; Inter-gralik International, Berlin, Germany (1987); Premoi International Print Biennale, Italy; European Biennale, Ankouru, Turkey (1986); Biennale of Graphic Art, Ljubliana, Yugoslavia (1981); ‘Indian Contemporary and Traditional Prints’, Kunstmuseum, Amsterdam; British International Print Biennale (1980); International Exhibitions of Graphic Arts, Frenchen, Germany; Invitation to Print Edition, Grafilkunst, Humburg, Germany (1978). For past three decades, Dakota has been associated with the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Program, New York, where he teaches classes, juries exhibitions, hosts demonstrations and collaborates as Master Printer with several artists. Devraj Dakoji was born to a family of Ayurveda practitioners. Picking herbs for his father every morning before going to school proved to be a lasting influence in Dakoji’s life as this identification with nature became an important and enduring motif in his art. Interaction with masters like Jyoti Bhatt and K. G. Subramanyan led to a deeper understanding of art, both as a craft and a way of life. Dakoji is primarily a printmaker, his works are inspired from Indian culture, and reveal a predominance of nature and animals, often in a ‘cave painting’ like manner. Often illusory, his images are a combination of the real, the imagined and the abstract. In 1922, Dakoji learnt ‘collaborative printmaking’ at the Tamarind Institute University of Mexico, Albuquerque, U.S.A. – an activity where the printer and the artist are required to closely interact as the printer advises the artist on the most appropriate technique and material to heighten the work. In his ongoing series, ‘The Wheel of Life’, Dakoji responds to his immediate surroundings and explores the cycle of life that continues despite man’s destructive interactions with nature, causing life forms to adapt insuring their own survival. On himself, Dakoji says, ‘I am a printmaker with a soul of an artist’. The artist lives and works in New York.