Ex-IRS officer, painter, and late SH Raza’s close mentee Bharat Tripathi returns to the city with a new collection of paintings next week
Paintings from the artist’s collection titled Hanuman
Pick up whatever you like and take it home,’ he said. I wasn’t too sure about it, so I politely declined the offer. But he insisted until I finally chose one of his signature Bindu pieces,” recalls 1988 batch-IRS officer Bharat Tripathi. Over a call with this writer on a day where the country is debating the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the former Commissioner of Income Tax is reminiscing this anecdote from a visit to the late art pioneer SH Raza’s studio in the late 1990s. We can already picture some art collectors we know turning a shade of green with envy.
Anjaneya, by Bharat Tripathi
“While Raza ji undoubtedly pushed me to pursue art professionally, the writing was always on the wall,” Tripathi admits. Growing up as a student at The Bishop’s School in Pune, Tripathi dabbled in everything creative — painting, essays, and theatre. “But back in the day, these pursuits were rarely looked at as a calling,” he admits. While the Civil Services ambition ran in the Bihar native’s blood, painting remained a therapeutic outlet throughout his illustrious career. “I was painting only as a hobby on weekends and days off,” he reveals.
La Terre by SH Raza on display at an earlier exhibtion in Mumbai. FILE PIC/ASHISH RAJE
If Tripathi’s memories of his first meeting with Raza are a tad hazy, that’s only because he has too many to keep track of. “It was in the mid-1990s when I found myself in a South Mumbai gallery where Raza ji was presenting. I introduced myself and showed him a few of my works. He was impressed. He urged me to play with colours,” Tripathi recalls. Between subsequent meetings in Raza’s Paris studio and during his visits to Mumbai, the artist became the officer’s guru.
Bharat Tripathi alongside Raza’s Surya Namaskar. PICS COURTESY/BHARAT TRIPATHI
It’s no surprise that Raza’s signature style that fused spiritual symbolism and modernism reflects in Tripathi’s newest collection, Anjaneya. Inspired by one of Hanuman’s many names, Tripathi calls the style ‘abstraction, but with a deeper meaning’. “Technical finesse was never my forte,” the artist admits, adding, “But I remember what Raza ji had once said to me: You don’t need the best techniques. If there is art in your heart, it will find a way to the canvas.”
A dated photograph of Bharat Tripathi with SH Raza at Tripathi’s South Mumbai residence
“He [Raza] took his art seriously, but was a joyous soul at heart,” the artist remarks, recalling how the late art veteran would often hum his favourite Ashok Kumar tunes for friends and family at the dinner table. “He was kind enough to let me sit and watch him paint in his Paris studio. During one of these visits, he turned to my daughter and asked her to paint a canvas,” Tripathi recalls fondly.
Sixteen years after the artist opened his first solo exhibition in Kala Ghoda, times have changed by leaps and bounds. For one, his guru who inaugurated his debut show will be missed in attendance. But Tripathi is not alone — on September 10, Chetan Shetty will present a storytelling session of Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana in the foreground of his works, followed by violinist Rama Chobhe’s Hindustani Classical violin concert on September 13.
“I retired from the Services voluntarily in 2010 to pursue art more seriously. I don’t know what my peers made of it. They probably thought I’d lost my mind,” he laughs. Support from the ones closest to the artist was at hand, we learn. “I remember asking my daughter what she thought. She replied almost instinctively, ‘You should’ve done this long ago’,” he shares. If nothing else, Tripathi has never been short of exceptional mentors.
TILL September 14; 11 am to 7 pm
AT Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Fort.
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