The painting, from his collection of earliest works, is title Banjara Women. A classic tempera on paper, it is dated 1960

“The Floral Aesthetic marked the continuation of reflection as well as Levitational Forms. The shift observed here was from the element of air to that of water (sic).”

A staunch follower of ‘seeing is believing’, Surya Prakash spent two entire years in the US around 2012 just studying the fall colours. “I wanted to understand how autumn looks, for my landscapes. I needed to see the vibrant orange and browns and reds to be able to replicate them on my canvas.”

As the book explains his landscapes, “F.N. Souza’s landscapes reflect his pre occupation with an inherent conflict within the subjective realm of man. Ramkumar’s abstract landscapes stress on introspection. Akbar Padamsee’s ‘metascape’ internalised nature as his a supra realm, one that connotes the colours of the mind. Paramjit Singh’s landscapes evoke a pastoral feel. Within this venerable tradition Surya Prakash has been able to maintain a distinctive tenor (sic).”

However, apart from his landscapes, the painter has been critically acclaimed for his series on automobile debris that depict a distinct, almost skeletal, human form. In 1971, Santo Dutta had explained, “...few years ago when I saw his paintings for the first time, I wondered at his imaginative handling of the theme of a car crash. It was his handling of the theme that made a common experience a symbol of the wreckage of human lives and values. His recent works, though still a series of variation and development of the same wreckage theme, have new nuances with a slow shifting of technique. A linear imbroglio of mildly contrasting colours now supplements his highly individualistic, subtle tonal treatment of the symbol. Along with a sense of waste and painful disfiguration, the linear pattern makes us aware of the confusion the insoluble riddles of our modern existence (sic).”

The Floral Aesthetic marked the continuation of reflection as well as Levitational Forms. The shift observed here was from the element of air to that of water