Renowned Indian artist Hem Raj's paintings reflect duality; impressionistic enlightenments contradict expressionist discontent. What arises out of this duality or contradiction is a kind of chiaroscuro through which he delves deeper into existence. His search revolves around a unitary point of exploration to find the truth behind the existential predicament. But truth is always intangible. So the prediction is always incomplete. Hem Raj does not like to label his form with any fixed epithet because he thinks it leads to a sort of brink of closure. He chooses colour and its tone carefully and with intention; most of the time the major areas of his canvases are monotones.
He essentially explores the ‘landscapic’ feeling with one colour and its countless tones. Each of his paintings has its own river, hills, waterfalls, smell of vegetation and its own independent entity. Hem Raj is a painter whose direct approach yields expressive results. He paints with lust that is revealed in the glory of colour. Every form has its own autonomy. Within this liberation the form can attain a universal significance transcending all local demarcation. When viewed in dramatic close up his work very deliberately depicts “a voice” to the voiceless in his paintings through melody, rhyme, rhythm and soul, all of which coalesce into a single whole.
