CREATIVE HOUSE FOUNDER
Rasta Asaru was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where he currently resides and creates. Rasta’s inspiration came at an early age when he found himself intrigued by various elements, textures, and colors of materials. During this curious time, Rasta began to mimic these objects on paper, while teaching him how to sketch, draw and use color.
Rasta Asaru's creative desires continued into high school, where he advanced from sketching and drawing on paper to graffiti art. As a graffiti artist, his unique blend and arrangement of color complimented his abstract designs. Where hid experience would show him scale while creating massive murals some as large as 25 feet tall. By the end of high school Rasta then took his analog skills digital learning computer graphics at the time Photoshop and Illustrator he then would use this new art form digitally to further his creativity for marketing and creating billboards for various companies.
Rasta Asaru being a talented designer with a solid eye for design would later work on a wide range of projects everything from corporate identity packaging, direct mail, to national sales and promotions in print, for the larger companies such as Yellow Cab, Yum Corporation, i.e. Taco Bell KFC.
After high school, Rasta Asaru was offered tutelage at Otis Parsons Art Institute, where he would get his first interaction with fellow artists. His experience at Otis, although short, was a memorable one. "One of my instructors informed me that my approach and process for creating was wrong.
“The instructor's statement allowed me to analyze my work and the work of others. I began to notice the differences in our work and saw that most of the other students' work were of similar styles and lacked individuality
In fact, even the use of color was the same. Coming from a graffiti background, I felt like my creative freedom was being taken away from me.” ---Rasta Asaru
From then on, Rasta began to embrace his freedom to create and continued on his own. After connecting with a fellow artist named Greg Chaney, they had a brief conversation, where Greg actually taught Rasta how to create sculpture over the telephone. From that telephone conversation forward, Rasta created his first bust and started his artistic work in the medium of sculpture creating for various galleries and festivals.
In 1995, during an Art Festival, Rasta met another artist, Charles Dickson. Dickson offered Rasta an apprenticeship at The Dickson Studio. During Rasta's apprenticeship at The Dickson Studios, he would learn how to break down and manipulate almost every material imaginable.
In 2002, Rasta began to try his artistic eye in film and digital rendering to further capture his creative ideas. It was in those moments that he found himself intrigued with photography and the platforms that came with them. “I found that taking pictures of my own work felt more complete shooting them myself as compared to others photographing what the work really represented.
In most cases, my works shot by other photographers would be missing important details, so I learned digital photography, lighting, and graphic design. This would become the culmination to what later would become the creation of the Film and Photography company "Black Cotton" The film and photography project would expand with Rasta Asaru’s Coffee Table Book becoming the flagship product that catapulted the idea into a new endeavors being Black cotton media and Black Cotton Publishing. The Book Black Cotton would sell independently over 4,000 copies in its 1st run after the much completion of the book Rasta was able to then launch his Film Company Black Cotton media
The 1st is a documentary called "BLACK COTTON" which was a documentary short on the making of the book along with the visual representation and interviews of a variety people who were also directly connected with the project. His Second Movie Installment would be a Movie Short Called "Chained" which actually starred some participant from the black cotton book project.
In the summer of 2016 Rasta would then return to his sculptural roots and become the Founder of the Greatest Gallery in Inglewood “the Creative House” The Creative house, A non-Profit Entity would come into existence after 2 years of planning. Rasta would plan every aspect of this new company from the brand look to creating and lending his own larger works of sculptures some in excess of 10 feet tall to the creative house with a marketing background he then had the idea to become more than just a gallery but teach art as well and creation of the creative house not only a gallery but also a film and marketing company with a emphasis on art.
The creative house still being a prominent icon in the rebuilding of Inglewood has had the succession by the sale of art. And creating exhibitions that rival many museums some of which were Curated by Rasta Asaru Himself showcasing the extraordinary and nationally renowned artists like Michael Chukes, Timothy Washington, Toni Scott Dale Davis, Sam Pace, Joe Sims, and Fellow Genius Charles Dickson.
The Creative House would also celebrate its shows by hosting group tours With its patrons being from any and every ethnicity and background a great example of one of its tours would be the hosting of congresswoman Maxine Waters 100 women tour. Although Privately funded the creative house would open its doors in conjunction with the Watts Towers, WLCAC, California African American Museum, and African American Museum for this amazing tour.
“I Found a Jewel in Inglewood” --- Congress Woman Maxine Waters
The creative house would not only host prominent collectors like Maxine Waters but also create workshops with other artists for the sole purpose of teaching art…
“ We are a Creative Place in every shape and every form… it is in this creativity that we want everyone to feel at home. Hence the name “the Creative House” --- Rasta Asaru
Rasta Asaru now devotes his time to curating and creating large sculptural works in Inglewood. Often times you may find him in the gallery/ studio creating or building with the community on the next evolution of the creative house as an art teaching institution.
“True power never needs an introduction”
---Rasta Asaru
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Curator Art Liason Resume