Bengaluru, Karnataka

Arjun Rao

Oil

A landscape is not a view; it is a length of time. I paint the Ghats as bands of weather stacked on each other — the mist that sits at nine, the light that cuts through at four. I want a painting to hold a whole day, so that it looks different at breakfast and at dinner.

Arjun Rao left a career in structural engineering at thirty-four to paint full time. He works outdoors across the Western Ghats in small sketches, then builds large oil landscapes back in his Bengaluru studio over several months. His paintings are built up in thin glazes, and he is unhurried about finishing them.

Instagram: @arjunrao.oils