"Creativity is a celebration of life – my celebration of life. It is a bold statement: I am here! I live life! I love me! I can be anything! I can do anything!" says Joseph Zinker. This is true in the life of Raja Segar.
Though the discovery of his inborn talent came later in his life, since then his life had been changed because of his creativity.
His first painting was the 'fish monger' who stopped by at his dwelling daily. This showed that Segar was a people oriented person and most of his paintings still reflect this aspect. His ability got refined as he used his biology and chemistry notebooks to sketch human figures in different lifestyles and actions. More and more paintings on greeting cards were the outcome of his hard work. They took the places in the shelves of the famous bookshops like Tabrobane and Lake House. The demand was such that he declined being an employee of the Elephant House to a self-taught modern artist.
In the process Segar originated his own style "reflective effects in cubism" as his famous subjects were physics and mathematics. (Refraction of light when it travels through different density) The age of traditional art seems past and some have spoken of the "eclipse of symbolism".
Segar loves the works of artist Ganesh Pyne of India and Vincent Manansala of Philippines. He derives his inspiration from life and tries to depict his emotional feelings through colour and composition. Like many other artists of his ilk, Segar is somewhat temperamental at times. It is said that he used to throw away or destroy his own paintings when he found them loathsome. He tries to express his feeling of anger and disappointments in his painting.
- Meera Sharina |
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