Thou....... Thou........

Given the fact that life has a strong element of mystery to it.Andalso given, that the artist is among the fortunate souls to be at thereceiving end of the transmissions of those invisible waves of themysterious.That which releases joy for the layman in the process isthe transliteration that the poet ,the painter ,the dancer awards tothe receptions of the enigmatic,the inscrutable.And the result is theinvisible string of elixir that is exchanged between the two.Theartist on one,the lover of art on the other.The paint,the brush andpalette,being the medium of the painter,And the painter himself beingthe medium of the invisible spirit permeating Nature.No wonder Hemraj experiences a perfect ego-less state while givingarticulation to his experience.It definitely came from his heart whenhe stated that the artistic processas it unfurls for him, takes him by a sweep and he comes to have anythought what so ever over it, only after the painting itself declaresconsummation.There is no interference of thought as long as he is in the process ofallowing himself being the medium.Moreover he does not have to callfor a decision according to his judgement to stop at a point.Ithappens on its own for him.The painting itself paroles him,releaseshim, to put it across in different words.The most delighting fact of the creative process that reveals itselfis the flow that erupts,goes on to acquire a momentum,a velocity wherethe analysis annihilates itselfand all, that is left to remain, is only the catalytic presence of himand his artistic gear, between the work and the energy above.Him beinga recipientof such an experience only comes out too strongly, when one is 'ru baru' i.e observing his works.The monumental in them replicates the cosmic,and seems infused withthe spirit of surrender.Surrender to the infinite force and powerabove,which overtakes any human endeavor by a deluge, provided one isreceptive to the flow,and allows it to take its own course.Goddefinitely has bigger plans for all of us,but only if we trust thesource beyond ourselves and let go off the interference.One meets witha similitude of surrender to the energy above, that Hemraj is guidedby,that comes our emphatically from what his works exude.The joy thathe is to be with,a very simple and happy soul as he came acrosstalking with absolute innocence about his experiences with paints andcanvasses.The canvasses as one goes closer, start revealing more, than theywanted to whisper in the first interaction.There are layers uponlayers ofsilent revelations that call for one's attention in the multi layeredpaint that he applies transparent at places and opaque patches in somesubtle forms,that are finally superimposed.The see through effect orthe transparency that is proposed calls for the eyes to go andexcavate the layers for the hazy mystery enveloped in there.Like a layer of a translucent glass encapsulating the esotericwithin,that reveals only partially,as if a replication of the sense ofmystical that this universe engulfs.He was born to be an artist,emerges from his early childhood when hewould inadvertently indulge in the exploration of creating beautyaroundhimself.And his very loving and passionate father who was fascinatedwith this revelation always tried to create convenience in thedirection towards the fulfillmentof his art.Infused with such a joyous curiosity that he once barged inthe examination hall of his child on the pretext of delivering histiffin much to the embarrassmentof Hemraj,who fills up with nostalgia recalling this.Hemraj loves anecdotes profuse with wisdom as they add to his owninquiry of life as much as they add intensity to his vocation,, whichfor the preoccupation with the queries of the occult, becomes aprocess of revelation where he finds himself drenched with the joythat partakes in the interaction.The silence and simplicity that hisworks are filled with is loud enough to knock one into that joyousenergy that he experienced.With the requisite receptivity at the endof the observer, the artist drowned in the passion cannot buthave it transfused or disseminated. Passion at the creative end of theartist cannot but fountain over from the frames to the fertile mindsaround.That's the beauty of the interdependence of the artists andthe lovers of art-the kinship of authentic beauty with the patrons ofit....Using rollers,brushes,knives with the flow of the impasto creatingrugged textures here and subtle ones there,the balance acquired isvisually delightful.The transparenthues awarded at some, along with the opaque at others creating aninteresting synergy there.The symbols of erotic forms that hesplatters subtly on the surface, that kindof pop out from the backdrop of the abstract mass of beautifullypainted compositions create a foreground as if providing depth to thelayers beneath.The act of painting is a 24 hr preoccupation as he admits to theinquiry of the duration of his work.Overtly difficult to accept butthe revelation of theprocess more than corroborates the reality of it.An artist ,acomposer,a musician,a dancer ,an engineer,a scientist all in all,allwho are indulging in theirvocation passionately,are not just spending the literal time that theyare actually with their creative pursuits,but their conscious andsubconsciousthat remains submerged in their preoccupation throughout.Thus duringthe hours of sleep, deep or scanty, the mind is at a heightened levelofcreativity.Almost all his works create that sense of powerful mystery with thetwo major layers that he creates,along with multiple more to unfurl asyou go excavating and just remaining still in front of thosemonuments.A peep is all you crave for beyond the little openings thatthey create the illusion of.As if just the granules of truth aresprinkledto ignite curiosity in the mind of a learner in his pursuit of theultimate truth,beyond those superficial layers carrying the mightyimport,calling and beckoning you irresistibly.The glow shining from beneath carrying the snippets of the mystic thatis captured in there.Under the concrete simple almost intentional childish line drawingswhich seem to have been used as symbols and been rendered opaque withflat thick layers of color appear not for no reason.A little longerrumination while observing the works brings it out like a flash of asimple discovery.The subtle impressions of the drawings of genitals onthe surface,lending to it an opaque ,and the in between stretches ofspaces with a major depth ,capturing a strong metaphorthere..Metaphorical for life perhaps !.Beyond the surface attractionsrendered in the opaque suggesting their symbolic significance asopaque,or circumscribed to just the surface level...whereas the vaststretch that, life is beyond that which takes away the priority focusof humanity at large,is deep and has layers and layers of discoveryand revelations to unfurl !Hemraj titles his works with the spiritual flavor of "Thou,Thou..."anrevolutionizing emission from Guru Nanak Dev .And thus Hemrajfeels"today's world is the cruel victim of the very idea of 'mine',the sole source of conflict in every walk of life. Aggression,violence, bloodshed vast destruction … are just the net outcome ofgoing by the idea of 'I' and 'mine'. The path Guru Nanak showed ismost relevant in today's world...”. 'Thou… Thou… 2012” is a humbleattempt to counter the “I” and negate the idea of “mine” for the sakeof World peace. I feel that paying tributes to Him is an unlimitedexercise in man's expression of his gratitude to his Creator, who isboth the doer (Karta) and the deed (Karma) that results in themanifestation of His Will".An artist if he has succeeded in creating visual spaces with appeal ateffective application of his medium sans recognizable forms has quitepossibly succeeded in capturing the mystery of life ,unless it is afake attempt,which anyway cannot continue to convince for long.Truthcannot be suppressed for long for sure.For as long as he hasrecognizable lines or forms at his disposal he is attemptingcommunication within the demarcations of the legible human or visuallanguage.But to come to a point of rejecting all cliched vocabularyand taking on that which is insuperable within and conveying frombeyond the horizon of words is task of courage.That dawns fromconviction,and pure passion.Bhoomika Jain