Srimati Lal

On 19 January 2003, it will be ten years since I first met Francis Newton Souza, the most phenomenal man and artist I ever came across. This was the man who changed my entire life, by letting me paint with his brush, and by listening to and understanding all the secrets of my soul. I have been exceptionally blessed to have been the Muse and closest friend of Souza for ten amazing, unbelievable years. On January 19, 1993, I was a painfully-young art critic for the TIMES OF INDIA in New Delhi. The reclusive and enigmatic Souza had just flown in from New York and was opening an exhibition at Dhoomimal Gallery that evening.
I had known Souza's art and writing for all my formative years, but had never seen this man, who was the ultimate legend of contemporary Indian art. His words and lines rivetted me: his scientific and philosophical essays, 'SEARCH FOR AN INFINITE UNIVERSE and 'REDMONISM: THE NEW UNIVERSE' were always kept on top of my clippings-file, for years.

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