Colours of peace

RANA SIDDIQUI

Works of Tyagraj Soni at Arushi Arts are a nostalgic reminder of his father Mahinder Soni.

ON LIFE Tyagraj Soni's The Journey mounted at Arushi Arts.

You can't tell a book from a film (made on it), they say. But you can definitely be reminded of a classic story or a poem if you happen to see a beautiful painting narrating the tale of life. At least it happens when you see Tyagraj Soni's oil on canvas celebrating life, subtly teaching the importance of karma, taking small incidents from scriptures as the Gita and the Ramayana and turning them into splendid images and so on. It has a nostalgic value for two reasons: one, it reminds us of Chaucer, the Father of English Poetry's remarkable allegory "Canterbury Tales" in which men and animals co-exist peacefully. And tales unfold themselves with some teachings on life as we move from one page to another. Secondly, Tyagraj's father Mahinder Soni, whose miniature paintings earned him laurels as he joined hands with Arushi Arts in 1988. Before his death some time ago because of slow poison that clotted the blood in his body, the senior Soni left his beautiful legacy of the wonder of his brush and colour to be carried further by his eldest son, Tyagraj, among six of his children. The Imperial hotel in Delhi stands witness to the senior Soni's several miniatures that put him in an out standing category.

His father's son

The works of 30-year-old Tyagraj, a product of the Delhi College of Arts and Crafts, whose exhibition of recent works is mounted at Arushi Arts, on till march 15, reminds one of his father's style. But the son's style modifies itself with new themes that he has taken up in these works. These are fairy-tale canvases, yet minimalist in approach, highly stylised and yet extremely serene works in which his very bright yet peaceful colours play a vital role. While The Journey portrays peaceful sailing in the co-existence of man, animals and angels in the Boat of Life, another painting, The Circle of Life, shows stages of one's life in four ashrams (brahmacharya, grihast, vaanprast, sanyas), The Soulmate narrates the episode when Hanuman is being told that his swami (Ram) has taken birth on this earth. So he goes to make friends with Ram, who is still a child, and plays with him. In The Puppeteer, he shows how Krishna makes all human beings dance to his tune, and so on. Says the artist, who is famous for feeding troubled, stray animals and taking care of them, "I am still a struggler like my father was in his early years. But I have been seeing him since childhood so his style comes to me naturally. I want to keep his unique style alive. So I have adopted his style while my themes are different from his miniatures."

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