S H RAZA, His early themes were drawn from his memories of a childhood spent in the forests of his native village of Babaria, in Madhya Pradesh. Raza's style has evolved over the years -he began with expressionist landscapes, which became rigid, geometric representations of landscape in the 1950s. Later, the lines blurred and colour began to dominate; his theme was still landscape but it was now non-representational. In the late 70s, he focus turned to pure geometrical forms; his images were improvisations on an essential theme: that of the mapping out of a metaphorical space in the mind. The circle or "Bindu" now became more of an icon, sacred in its symbolism, and placing his work in an Indian context.
Sayed Haider Raza calls his work a "result of two parallel enquiries." Firstly, it is aimed at a "pure plastic order" and secondly, it concerns the theme of nature. Both converge into a single point and become inseparable - the "Bindu" (the dot or the epicenter). Raza's work has formalism, for which he trained in France, as well as the mystic aspects of Hindu philosophy.
A strong colourist Raza’s painting resonate the passionate hot colours of India with all their symbolic, emotive value. While drawing from memories of childhood spent in the forests he has also been inspired by Indian metaphysical thought. His work evolved from painting expressionistic landscapes to abstract ones. From his fluent water colours of landscapes and townscapes executed in the early 40’s, he moved toward a more expressive language, painting landscapes of the mind. Many of his paintings have a dark circular focal point termed the Bindu which. according to him is the fountainhead of both energy and creativity The strong colours and geometric shapes in Raza’s paintings have sometimes been mistaken for Neo-Tantrik art but according to the artist there is no affiliation with that school. Pre-occupied with imminent energies, he is a modernist involved with the plastic qualities of art and its emergence on the surface.
S H Raza has started his eternal journey on 23rd July 2016. His Friend famous art appreciator Krishen Khanna termed Raza as “stupidly charitable” and a very outgoing man with a large heart. “He was among the ones who convinced me to leave a bank job saying I would be more valuable as a painter and he without my knowing threw a big dinner party to celebrate when I did. He lived a glorious life and he was a great company and I valued his friendship,” Khanna said.
Another of Raza’s contemporaries, Ram Kumar said, “It is a huge loss to the art world. We have been acquaintances for long and knew each other from the past 60 years. He has always encouraged youngsters. I share many good memories with him.
"He was very honest and never liked shortcuts. He did whatever he liked and was decisive. I don’t have words to describe his art work,” said the abstract artist, acknowledged as among the country’s foremost. The stalwart was bestowed the ‘Lalit Kala Ratna’ during the 50th year celebration of the Lalit Kala Akademi.
Art Lovers feel 'It is a very big loss. Being known internationally, he was the cultural ambassador of India. He had represented the art fraternity of the country internationally. He has worked a lot to encourage young artists. He was an institution himself. It is a collective and multi-dimensional loss'.
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