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Dual Personality
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Painfully Beautiful

Every society functions alongside a plenty of issues. Humanity and ecology are the greatest gift to the world. They should be valued; kept with proper sanctity and nurtured periodically. Rajnish observes them minutely and take a conscious effort to throw light on some of the sectoral issues to make everyone aware.He has well amalgamated the figurative tradition of the miniature with the abstract realm. Breaking away the pattern of a formal arrangement of different objects with a narrative, his recent works are more like semi abstracts, which he considers an important aspect of the traditional practice of miniature painting. His astonishing series depicting the characters of Mughal emperors are contemporary with highly topical issues. They are delicately painted like saints and their expressions are filled with power and politics. His choice to use miniature technique allows him a freedom to portray negative subjects in a beautiful, subtle, intricate way, or one could say in a lighter mood he could express his very loud thoughts.

Emblematic greener precincts can be noticed in some of his works probably symbolizing the abode of a dreamland and they are often embellished with fine abstract motifs which he had developed to represent the calligraphic part often present in the old manuscripts with imageries. According to him, the textual part or the calligraphies are just an ornamental aspect for us (who can’t read them); it does not convey any information or bring any sense. Similarly, in our life there are many things that look beautiful but difficult to comprehend. He also uses natural representation to tell various stories from his personal memories, experiences and existence. Leaves and nature represent the idea of life in his works. Thus, nature and natural representations are an integral part of his works. As the artists says “Nature is pure and it does not discriminate anyone in its act of kindness, like an Apple tree will never forbid anyone to eat its fruit on the basis of one’s caste or religion”.His recent series investigate his anxieties and fears of the contemporary culture. He creates exceedingly crafted works that experiment with painterly techniques to create atmospheric, dream-like qualities. The imageries are a playful dialogue and coherently serious in its urge to play.

Rajnish’s works are inspired out of his personal life and his immediate surroundings. His oeuvre is pretty sensitive and cognitive to all those whys and wherefores which create an imbalance in nature and our lives. His inspiration mostly comes from common people around him. He observes how people change with changing (social, religious and political) times. His recent series are focused on the current social and political issues faced by his society and to which he is an eye witness on daily basis. Being a Hindu and married to a Muslim woman he has witnessed conflict and intolerance at first-hand. His work decries social attitudes that promote suppression, hatred and bloodshed amongst human beings.Beautiful, intricate and detailed, Rajnish’s finely rendered miniatures are the only way he can express these ugly realities in an approachable way. From afar, his images are striking, rendered in exquisite detail. Conclusively he desires to make a way to understand the complexity, contradictions and transiency of life thorough his subtle creative journey.

Pranamita Borgohain

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