It was 1992, I had visited Bharat Bhavan for the All India Biennale. An awarded painting snatched my attention. It was an abstract but was distinctly different from what I saw around. There was a new thought process and implementation technique on the canvas. I inquired about the artist and referred his details to Mrs. Sushma Mahendra Jain, the then owner of Dhoomimal Art Centre.

Long after one fine day a slim shy young man came searching for me to my drawing room. I had not met him earlier. He introduced himself as Santosh Verma and the painting at the Bharat Bhavan flashed in my mind. So this was the young man with fresh thought behind the canvas. The long chat that ensued revealed the influences that touched his mind. He was from Varanasi, born and brought up amidst nature. I realized the fluidity in his paintings were the reflections nature that he imbibed into himself. I observed him and his paintings journey in abstraction through the years as he won many awards and accolades.

SHANTI DAVE