Hues To Heal Heart

Colours talk louder and more sensible than words; canvas speaks volumes and the hues brushed reflect myriads layers of love, passion, compassion, obsession and lots more that win laurels. Besides countless achievements, Raghu Vyas, a noted painter, who oils the canvas to create a language, “Gateway to Heaven” gets him President Award. This art theme he daubed beautifully on the canvas took him to Prez APJ Abdul Kalam for the award and this is what he values above all and holds it close to his chest.

Born in Jammu’s Basohli in 1956, a place known for miniature painting like Ras Manjari and brought up in the national capital, Raghu, a Dipsiite (Studied at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road) has inherited this trait from his father who was a renowned artist of his time. But in the same breath he speaks highly of Mahender Modi, his mentor and Raghu regarded him as his guru whom he would visit quite often and pick the nuances and subtle differences of various arts. His father’s impact as an artist touched his aesthetic edges deeply and chiseled them. He worked from scratch and in these thirty-five years, he scaled the international boundaries to bring home recognition. His canvas was acclaimed well even on the turf overseas. He has held dozens of solo shows of his paintings at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, London and Canada. He has also participated in group shows including the two exhibitions arranged as a tribute to Raja Ravi Varma in Delhi and Mumbai.

In his art, he dabbed Meera with her prop sitar in the hand which is amazing and Kanha, Lord Krishna with a flute in his hand is in no way less than any works so called his masterpiece, a magnum opus. It was divine. In several paintings, he employs a wide range of illusionistic techniques including displays of bric-a-brac. Raghu has travelled all over the place across the sea; his work took him to Italy and France.

“The art comes from within and pick the subtleties of this trade under the wings of some experienced hand. Schools do not teach, they only honour a degree to get employment, a requisite in the first place. On the other hand, the teachers are not competent either,” quipped the art connoisseur. He is a man next door who never likes to get into the very fold of a typical painter who seems drifted and lost to the world, which he calls crafty and imposture. Vyas wields his brush for corporate sectors; Bungalowwallahs comprehend and buy his work. He picks the subject on his own and fills it with vibrant colours, maybe sometimes on demand. “I rather emphasise the message to the masses, a feel that’s live and speaks your heart. My art takes even a commoner to different flights of love and life and builds a relation with him. I have brought it from the West to our country, India where I’m liked and acclaimed more than any other soil I’ve been to. I conceive an image of a beautiful female, her womanhood, a stream babbling through the pebbles, landscape and mountains and the divinity connected with Gods. I endeavour to bring them on to the canvas. The base is Renaissance art and romanticism of the 14th century, that spell mesmerism over me,” Raghu reveals. He reminisces the moment in the year 2006 when he was honoured by the Tibetan spiritual guru Dalai Lama who in his address called the artist as a decorated painter of this era who held a high place in his contemporaries. He is fond of reading international ties with other nations. “I paint from anything to everything; Buddha is what I like most I did him in numerous shades. One good work fetches four to six lakh. It’s basically a brand like Armani and Versace and above all your dedication and devotion to making it,” he concluded exuberantly.

By Syed Wazid Ali from New Delhi