Rahim Mirza
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Rahim Mirza was born in 1969 in Bhopal. Mirza completed his art education at Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal, where he studied printmaking. Mirza's current body of work however, is largely made up of acrylics on canvas. The artists association with leaf began as a coincidence, through which he now seeks larger truths of life. The leaf occupies a central motif in much of his work, representing, perhaps, a multiplicity of emotions; while the appearance of the first leaf signifies Spring and renewal, the shedding of the brown leaves in Autumn heralds the onset of winter. It is these subtleties and the complexity of the simple motif that intrigue the artist. While Mirza focuses on the leaf, he chooses to remove it from its natural environment. Thus while the leaf is a prominent symbol in his work, there generally is no sign of a tree or any context beyond its form. In its multiplicity, the artist creates rhythm and meaning that is far beyond its reach. Rahim Mirza employs the leaf as his muse, generating variations on this single theme in each image.