Hyderabad: The memories are still fresh as Rumi Ray fondly recalls the words legendary artist Manjit Bawa had reserved for her. “He called me ‘an extremely painterly painter.’ It was somewhere around 2001 when he had caught a glimpse of my work. I was still new to the field and to my surprise, he agreed to sponsor an exhibition of mine at World Habitat Centre,” she remembers with a smile.
In the last two decades, she has emerged as an artist of repute. If you happen to walk into some of the high profile addresses in India, don’t be surprised if a work of art displaying a ‘Rumi Ray’ signature,’ meets the eye. Her paintings adorn the wall of the Prime Minister’s residence, Air India head office, American Consulate (Mumbai), and many corporate offices in Indian and abroad.
We meet Rumi at Kolkata’s Chitrakoot Art Gallery and the look of contentment on her face is hard to miss. She has just wrapped up yet another successful exhibition. “It is been a hectic but a good week,” she says. A little query later, we find out, while managing her show, Rumi has also been visiting the hospital thrice a week for her dialysis as she is suffering from kidney failure. However she hasn’t allowed the grim health issues to dampen her spirit. “I am raising money for my kidney transplant by selling my paintings. As I was cheated of my life’s savings by a Mumbai-based financial company,” she shares.
A self-taught artist, Rumi, was earlier a journalist and a corporate marketing executive with a highly reputed company. She gave up a lucrative consultancy practice to follow her heart and become a full-time professional painter in 1997. “Painting for me was like giving wings to my imagination. As I brush stroked the canvas, it turned out to be a reflection of my thoughts and the beauty that caught my eye. However with no formal training in arts, it was more of an avenue of leisure than a career option. But there comes a time in every artist’s life when he or she responds to the inner calling. I happen to be no different,” says the Goa-based artist.
The determination to turn into a full fledged painter, was accompanied by some solid encouragement that came from gallerist Pheroza Godrej. Pheroza was the first to discover and exhibit her paintings. at her gallery And then there was no looking back, Rumi’s creativity ensured her shows in cities in New Delhi, Goa, Kolkata, Himachal Pradesh and Israel. Giving a substantial voice to her creative endeavours, as part of her peace programme, A Voice in the Wilderness was launched in 1999, Rumi conducted painting workshops for peace for the Israelis and Palestinians in 2002. Her workshops were also attended by families of suicide bombers.
