A visitor at Mazinder’s solo painting exhibition at State Art Gallery in Guwahati. Picture by Eastern Projections

After the stage and camera, it is now the medium of art that will pay tribute to the man who shaped the nation’s struggle for freedom.

Established painter Raj Kumar Mazinder’s solo exhibition at the State Art Gallery contains a series of paintings created as a mark of tribute to the father of the nation.

Mazinder’s works boast of a splendid context and commendable approach while treating the theme with refreshing use of colour and strokes.

The tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, titled My Soul Is Burning, includes four paintings. The vibrant use of the colour red in all the paintings clearly depicts Mazinder’s unmatched skill in giving a new dimension to Gandhi’s strong and undisputed ideals of non-violence.

At the same time, his intellectual maturity is clearly felt in the restrained style in which he deals with the content. For example, the first work of this series shows Gandhi staring helplessly at some abandoned bicycles.

In the second one, the foreground shows bicyles and charkhas dumped in one corner. The top left corner shows Gandhi being led by a child to a new destination.

In the third segment of this series, three lifesize figures of the Mahatma are placed at different angles . And finally, in the fourth one, Gandhi is shown with his back to the viewers, looking at the social unrest surrounding him.

Another series of three paintings by Mazinder titled Objects Within and Without presents three different texts of so-called human progress against a red background.

Besides these, two other works by Mazinder — Holy Birth and Heavenly Edge — deserve special mention.

The painting exhibition was launched with a poetry recitation by leading Assamese poets, including Nilmoni Phukan, Harekrishna Deka, Anubhav Tulsi and Aparaaj.