Karma Painting

Ashutosh Bhardwaj ====== It can be traced to the wanderings with a Faqir, grandfather. To the rags of myriad hues someone wove, grandmom. To the verses of a scripture, The Qur'an. If the collage of colours punctuated and accentuated by fine columns in Rafique's art manifests the fragmented memory of a childhood, the deep resonance emanating from within the canvas confirms the remnants of a lost village. The artist delves within to yarn his tales. Yet, his art doesn’t romanticise the past or appears loaded by nostalgia; it sits up, stares ahead and moves on, capturing the crisis of dislocation and exile. Emerging from a serene village as his brush grapples with the violence of cityscape, the canvas explodes in a restless attempt to locate and lend hues to its suddenly altered milieu. His art, in the process, becomes a fascinating arena of dynamic forms, where village meets the city, tradition confronts the modern and fumbling sketches metamorphose into smouldering shades. Delve deeper and the traces of an old woman can be situated in these forms that lead him to tread through this alien territory. For him seeing is of paramount importance. Sab dekhne ka hi kamaal hai. A curious and restless gaze receives the offerings of cosmos with gratitude, fluttering pupils dilate with childlike wonder, and fingers fumble with brush to lend forms to the feeling. As he confronts with the visible, its character and compositions, the artist knows only seeing will rescue him. Even as he is asleep, he does not cease to see. Surrounded by canvas, colour tubes and tapes, his dreams speak through his hues. Clearly then, painting is a plain visual for him. An eye to cherish. An image to relish. Receptive to all, his eye is not confined or caged to a specific motion or emotion. Not to say that his gaze has transcended the visible, but he sure endeavours to grasp and situate the images that are not formed on his retina. Like many other artists he was unaware of his being till he discovered his self in, and through, hues. A wandering soul finding the final recluse in colours, if we can term it final. He is still amid the first steps to comprehend the magic and mystery of tones. But sure he carries an unflinching faith in locating his being only in the realm of colours.