When Sayed Haider Raza says that art is the way of his life, one needs to nod in reverence. Seventy years into this field, his works are sought after — proved easily as he is the most expensive modern artist in Indian history, selling a painting for `16.42 crore. The city is seeing an exhibition of his paintings after almost a decade now. Titled Shab-Bindu, Raza’s work will share space with Ashok Vajpeyi’s poetry.
Raza has sojourned innumerable galleries, salons and museums, apart from spending time with people like French artist Chaim Soutine and the legendary MF Husain, yet he remains untainted by the fame, “Oh I just live to paint,” Raza puts it casually. He left for Paris in 1950 after getting a scholarship in an art school and despite spending the majority of his life there, his works seem to have an indigenous Indian flavour. Acknowledging this, Raza, 93, says that he never left India, metaphorically. “I never stayed away from my roots. Wherever and for whatever time you live abroad, roots of Indian civilisation remain deep and alive,” he says.
Titled Bindu, Raza’s collection takes the humble iconic dot to metaphorise a new beginning, a point from which the energy emanates. “It is a centre of humility and creativity, a moment of total concentration, a source of radiation and a modest invitation to meditation,” Raza says. This, dark circular focal point in most of his paintings have sometimes been mistaken for neo-Tantrik art. Raza denies affiliation to any such school.
Providing enough turbulence to his splash of colours at the exhibition, Vajpeyi’s thoughtful lines would demonstrate how vision and passion can co-exist without overshadowing the other. “They coexist in their own autonomous spheres and invariably talk to each other in silence,” says Haider.
(The exhibition Shabd-Bindu will be on till December 15 at Vivanta by Taj Connemara from 10 am to 9 pm)