Important Notice

“I have no apology for my repetition of the form of the bindu. With repetition you gain energy and intensity – as is gained through the japmala, or the repetition of a word or a syllable until you achieve a state of elevated consciousness.” - S H RAZA

The present lot was painted in 1989, a period when S H Raza was deeply preoccupied with exploring the potency of geometric forms. Stripped of narrative elements, these forms in his... “I have no apology for my repetition of the form of the bindu. With repetition you gain energy and intensity – as is gained through the japmala, or the repetition of a word or a syllable until you achieve a state of elevated consciousness.” - S H RAZA

The present lot was painted in 1989, a period when S H Raza was deeply preoccupied with exploring the potency of geometric forms. Stripped of narrative elements, these forms in his canvases "are pared down to their essence. They are simple, elementary forms with universal meaning - based on geometric principles which become metaphors for the world he intends to represent." (Geeti Sen, Bindu: Space and Time in Raza's Vision, New Delhi: Media Transasia India Ltd., 1997, p. 110)

With this new geometric vocabulary, Raza's art speaks to centuries- old practices and beliefs of visual abstraction shared across cultures. "Geometry, number and harmony are part of the 'objective' language shared by several religions, used in the sacred art of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Shintoism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism... In almost every civilisation, celestial geography envisages the universe in terms of pure geometry - as the only means by which the planetary spheres can be mapped." (Sen, p. 119)

This preoccupation with lines, shapes and colours has also led to the recurring presence of the bindu in his works. The bindu, or the black circle pulsating with concentrated energy, can be interpreted as a sign of shunya (zero), a void, or a seed. A recurring motif in Raza's geometric works, the bindu's representation ranges from a concentrated dot to a large black orb, as noted in the present lot. It is a metaphor for the origin of all life in Indian philosophy, from which "a whole series of different climates of thought can be created," in addition to representing concepts like unity, completeness, and infinity. (Sen, p. 12)

Raza was introduced to the bindu by one of his teachers in his native Indian village in the Mandala district of Madhya Pradesh. The teacher, Nandlal Jharia, taught him how to focus on the significant and eliminate the peripheral by concentrating on a small black dot. However, it took a few decades for this concept to manifest in Raza's oeuvre, which developed in distinct phases that were heavily influenced by his travels and life in France before returning to his Indian roots.

A variety of other geometric forms including concentric squares and lines surround and frame the central orb in the present lot. They are rendered using a controlled colour palette, dominated by shades of ochre, umber, sienna, red, brown and green, evoking the searing heat and passion of Raza's native central India. In ancient texts such as the Upanishads, straight and diagonal lines, upright and inverted triangles are respectively used to denote rays of the sun, wind, fire and water. On the surface, Raza's geometric works show certain similarities to the paintings of American abstractionists Frank Stella and Kenneth Noland. While the three artists did engage in theoretical discussions around the Formalist movement, Raza's art functions on a more spiritual level. This is because the bindu and other geometric shapes of the present lot were more than an abstract graphic device for Raza. The forms, instead, held deep meaning for him. "For Raza it is the bindu which becomes the single compelling image that recurs on the canvas with infinite variations - suspended in a timeless zone as a magnetic force that controls the sacred order of the universe." (Sen, p. 142)

French writer Olivier Germain-Thomas wrote on the significance of Raza's geometric symbolism, "Why do these circles, ovals and rectangles attract us? Why do they make us hold our breath and receive their vibrations? The reason is that something linked to the origin of life bubbles up in Raza's work. At first glance, these geometric compositions may appear to move away from the complexity of the real, and from the nuances, interruptions and surprises that the real holds. However, the compositions on Raza's canvases express the most exalting and enigmatic encounter extolled in cosmologies and sung by poets: the union of the feminine and the masculine." (Ashok Vajpeyi ed., A Life in Art: S H Raza, New Delhi: Art Alive Gallery, 2007, p. 132) With its geometrical structures and cosmological symbolism, Bindu is an exceptional example of the pictorial idiom employed by Raza during this important phase of his career.

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