Rudradeva's Paintings
"So the greatest art is to understand Krsna. That is the greatest art. If we actually want to be an artist, we should try
to understand, or try to be intimately associated with, the greatest artist, Krsna."
Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada's smile is contagious here, as he sits in total relaxed state on the roof of ISKCON's Mumbai temple. In the original photo, Prabhupada was missing a prominent tooth, showing a gap in that beaming smile. It was decided that "stark authenticity" would be abandoned, and so I painted in the tooth for Prabhupada. This large canvas was made shortly after the other framed wall painting (playing mrdanga), and later I executed the two big wall murals, with the Gurvasthika ceiling mural sandwiched in between the two pairs of wall art.
Reviews
"The devotional art of Rudradeva Prabhu is a magnificent contribution to the worldwide community of Krishna's devotees and to the public in general. It is a wonderful work that perpetuates and enhances the culture of Krishna Consciousness he learned from his spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Prominent...
"Srila Prabhupada is accessible through his books, videos, recordings, letters, photos, murtis and the temples he established. Some fortunate devotees have
also maintained his accessibility through paintings. One such talented artist is Rudradeva dasa, an initiated direct disciple of Srila
Prabhupada. Rudradeva...
"Rudradeva Prabhu, Robert Sustrick, has set a landmark in Vaisnava Art by painting the ceiling of the Radha-Raman Temple in Italy: a monumental 124 square meters beautiful rendering of the Rasas with Krishna and of Lord Caitanya's Lilas. It is a truly unprecedented masterpiece
that would leave...
Yadunandana Swami, preacher
Kurma das, Iskcon professional cook
​Madhusevita Prabhu, GBC Italy
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About Rudradeva
Rudradeva was born Robert Michael Sustrick, on Jan. 29, 1950, in Highland Park, Michigan, USA. He became interested in drawing at a very early age, and it was the first thing that fully caught his interest. Starting when he was 6 or 7 years old, he would spend hours in the basement, poring over the pages of pencil and ink drawings his father had made. He says of this period, "I knew early on, that I also wanted to depict objects important to me, thru line on paper. I began sitting in the cellar with pencil and scrap paper, copying my father's art". As he grew older, his drawing began to take on more sophisticated theme, he had elevated his art to reproducing scenes from illustrations in his history books...
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Rudradeva's Art
The style Rudradeva paints in varies depending on the subject. In his portraits, one can notice the tight photo-realism style he employs. Of this, Rudra states,
"While some portrait artists use styles that afford a greater level of individual expression or interpretation of their subject, I see photo-realism as the best
means to respect or honor my subject, by depicting him or her as close to the original photo as I can, with no "creative" interpretation. This is particularly
true when portraying an important historical figure, the best example being Srila Prabhupada. In this regard, if I can take a small Kodak print of Prabhupada that illustrates some momentous period in his life, and translate that image into...
This large ceiling mural, comprised of 56 wooden panels, has been my most ambitious painting project to date. It also took the longest amount of time to complete. The process went like this: After staining all panels with a terra-cotta colored gesso, I employed a small opaque projectorin my darkened studio, to project my miniature drawings onto the proper positions of all panels, and then laid out the design. Next it was time to block in the underpainting for all 56 panels. Unlike the ceiling I did in Prabhupadadesh 10 years...
If you would like to commission a painting, click here or use my email at rudradevadas@hotmail.com to send me your information and the details of your request. Please include your idea for the painting you would like, along with approximate size wanted and an image for me to copy. If you don't have a favorite personal image, you could choose one from here, or request a copy of one of my paintings in gallery.
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Stay in touch
To contact me, please fill the form with your information and then send it to me by clicking "Send to Rudradeva" or contact me through this email if you prefer: rudradevadas@hotmail.com. Feel free to tell me anything or ask any questions about me, my paintings, my projects, or the website. Please note that if you want to review something you can do it by clicking here or if you want to commission me for a painting, click here.