I’m Arjun Ram Srivatsa. I am an artist, musician, poet, animator, creative director, video director, video editor, motion designer, graphic designer, sound designer, podcaster, journalist, art critic, fiction essayist, trend forecaster, birdwatcher, socialist, and friend living in Manhattan.
I hold a masters degree from Columbia Univeristy’s Graduate School of Journalism.
I was most recently the Director of Programming and Development for Pitchfork. From 2020 to 2021 I hosted Diversity Hire, a podcast about being “POC” in media.
You can find more examples of my work on Instagram.
Monthly video series for Pitchfork’s social platforms.
We spoke with artists about what they would have on a mood board for their newly released album. We talked to Alvvays about bagpipes, Kali Uchis about sunsets, Cate Le Bon about Cardiff, Christine and the Queens about Angels in America, and more.
See morec. 2022-2023
Creative Director Program Director Director
Editor
Animator Sound Designer Colorist
As the Director of Programming, I revived Pitchfork’s classic series Over/Under. It’s a simple idea but a crowd-pleaser. The original series was too Williamsburg hipstery, it always felt like punching down. It also was a little boring. This time around it was a bit quicker, a little more animated, goofier, and more wholesome.
See morec. 2022-2023 Creative Director Program Director Director
In addition to the cover video, I pitched this narrative piece to Björk. I was inspired by a storied history of artists interacting with nature and wanted Björk to bring the reader into her mycelial world.
See morec. 2022 Creative Director Editor Animator Sound Designer
Vanity Fair was lucky to work with the amazing duo Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari of Toiletpaper Magazine to make their annual Hollywood Portfolio. The only challenge was the world was still shut down and it wasn’t safe yet to shoot in person. So they decided to do everything remotely, with photo shoots in LA, New York, Atlanta, Ghana, and Australia directed over Zoom.
I was tasked with taking all the remote footage to somehow put together a Behind the Scenes video. It’s hard to go behind the scenes of something that was shot solely through video chats, so I decided to play into the computer-based visuals by having the interactions play out on a desktop.
See morec. 2021
Editor Animator Graphic Designer
Sound Designer
Portfolio:
Maurizio Cattelan Pierpaolo Ferrari
Stylist:
Katie Grand
Art Director:
Micol Talso
Casting:
Britt Hennemuth 🏄🏾♂️Digital Covers, Condé Nast
As a visuals editor, I created digital covers and article openers across Condé Nast brands.
See morec. 2019-2022 Editor Graphic Designer Animator
GQ Creative Dir.: Robert Vargas GQ Design Dir.: Keir Novesky Vanity Fair CD: Kira Pollack Vanity Fair AD: Tara Johnson Vogue CD: Raul Martinez 📔Best of the 2010s, Editorial Package, Pitchfork
Pitchfork’s designer Drew Litowitz developed the visual language for this project, using the UX design of the platforms on which we experienced music in the 2010s. He mocked up the stills and I brought the motion, creating looping animations for the two featured lists and the many articles from the package.
Advertisement for new Converse Skateboard loafers by New York based artist Toya Horiuchi.
Toya is an incredibly talented artist and designer. He moved from Tokyo to New York City ten years ago, and his paintings and clothing designs are inspired by symbols and icons of the Big Apple. So when he approached me to make
a commercial, I knew that it should exude the vibes of NYC.
See morec. 2022 Creative Director
Director Producer
Editor Dir. of Photography
Colorist
Advertisement for the 2022 Spring/Summer collection from BBC’s skate brand Ice Cream.
Billionaire Boys Club wanted to make a playful commercial in which models and skaters appeared as sticker-like objects on a white background. The footage I received was all shot on a green screen, so I used After Effects to key out the models and arranged them in fun ways, editing the the beat of the classic Pharrell song. I also treated the graphics with a custom CRT technique I’ve been developing.
Lena Greene and I co-created the music video for the lead single off of May Rio’s French Bath. Lena came up with the initial idea for the video and brought me in to develop the storyboard. We both have a background in animation so we wanted to make the video feel magical.
See morec. 2022 Co-Director Co-Producer Editor Animator Colorist
A commercial for a new hat by EasyGo, a New York-based clothing company known for its high-quality socks. I took inspiration from Chris Marker’s La Jetée, utilizing still frames from an old digital camera.
Short documentary about a co-operative grocery store in Brooklyn for The New Yorker. This video was made to promote a New Yorker article by writer Alexandra Schwartz. We used Schwartz’s reporting to build out an outline and went to the store to chat with members about the community, rules, and atmosphere of the store.
See morec. 2019
Director Dir. of Photography
Editor
Animator
Social Media Director: Karen Quinn Social Media Editor: Julia Bush Writer: Alexandra Schwartz 🍇