Reprinted from: WWD International Fashion News
Original Title: WWD World | From Fashion Illustration to Fashion Portrait: An Artist’s Journey
Sharan Ranshi, a British Indian artist, has always integrated her perception and understanding of fashion into her art world through painting and color.
A graduate of Central Saint Martins in Print Design, she was born to Indian parents who grew up in Kenya after India’s partition in 1947 before moving to the UK to live. Her unique growth background has become a source of inspiration for her artistic creation.
Most of Sharan Ranshi’s works are inspired by women and the protagonists. In the paintings, women have slender waists, sitting on chairs or reclining chairs with strong styles, in elegant leisure postures. Surrounding wallpaper, rugs, lamps and tables are often printed in colorful prints, and plants often appear in paintings, sometimes on coffee tables or wrapped around the models themselves. Fashionable clothes on models come from fashion catwalks or collections of fashion designers, and prints appear prominently in the main positions of the paintings.
“I started out as a fashion illustration and gradually transitioned into fashion portraits. Clothes are important to me, but so is the environment and the background,” says Sharan Ranshi, “Compared to fashion illustration, a complete fashion Portraits will require more thinking and creation time, for example, I will carefully observe the clothing worn by women and the environment around her, these complex factors can bring me endless imagination and inspiration.”
Instead of pure fashion illustrations, artist Sharan Ranshi ditches the stark white pages and places the women in her paintings in a luxurious storm of color in the living room, giving them mood and personality, making the women themselves the focus – not just them Clothes are depicted.
Not only serving the fashion industry, Sharan Ranshi is also constantly drawing rich sources of inspiration from the fashion industry. The new series released at the Spring/Summer Fashion Week in 2023 provided a lot of inspiration and materials for the artist’s creation.
“I really love the work of designer Kevin Germanier, who used recycled toys in his new collection, and the use of color is brilliant.” She’s also inspired by Valentino’s classic silhouettes, “I think they have a great use of color. Brilliant. Also I love some of the young designers in London who are just starting out, like Ed Curtis.”
Printing is the main element of artist Sharan Ranshi’s work. Sharan Ranshi said: “All these printing patterns and colors are related to traditional culture, which is why I like printing.” “I like to draw inspiration from various cultures, In a way it has influenced the way I work as well.”
Sharan Ranshi has a great sense of touch and finds inspiration anywhere. She said: “In addition to the colorful world of the fashion industry, many beautiful things in life can bring me rich inspiration, whether it is a piece of fabric on the sofa or a print on the curtain.”
All of Sharan Ranshi’s creations are done by hand, which she calls herself “old school”, and she often uses materials such as acrylic, watercolor and gouache.
In addition to her “old school” side, she also sometimes breathes new life into designer labels by collaborating with them, as she did with Saloni. “I like her skirts very much. In the cooperation with Saloni Lodha, I can do what I want freely.” Sometimes, she will present some interesting fashion items directly in fashion illustrations, Take Olivia Morris At Home’s Daphne bow slippers, for example.
Also, inspired by contemporary painting forms, her work is small in size (typically A3 size, with a maximum size of 11.75 inches by 16.5 inches), partly due to her attention to detail and influence from contemporary painting. “I really like the forms of Persian miniatures and Indian miniatures, which have influenced my work in a contemporary direction of painting,” says Sharan Ranshi.
But she also admits that she is selfish when it comes to capturing the mood of a fashion portrait, “It has to be something I like.”
As for her ideal clients, Sharan Ranshi mentions: “I would like fashion designer Dries Van Noten, Milan-based Nilufar Gallery owner Nina Yashar and architect India Mahdavi because I think they all have impeccable taste. ” WWD