Out of Darkness

“There’s something about black. You feel hidden away in it.” –Georgia O’Keeffe

“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” –Leonard Cohen

In his “Out of Darkness” series, Raj captures the sensation of looking into darkness and seeing light, color, and form. To achieve this effect, he begins by painting a colorful abstraction or by spray-painting the entire canvas in gold. Once the initial layer has dried, he coats the composition with black oil paint mixed with a fast-drying alkyd, and then spontaneously scratches into the surface with a rake to reveal traces of color underneath. Although black is the dominant color in these paintings, they feel transcendent and hopeful, as they are reminders that, even in the darkest moments, there is always the potential for something brighter to emerge.