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In the mid 1980s, S.H. Raza’s fluid, gestural application of paint gave way to a more hard-edged approach to abstract forms and spaces. “In terms of painting, immense possibilities seemed to open, based on elementary geometric forms: the point, the circle, vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, the triangles and the square” (Geeti Sen, Bindu: Space and Time in Raza’s Vision, Media Transasia Ltd, New Delhi, 1997, p. 126). However, instead of... In the mid 1980s, S.H. Raza’s fluid, gestural application of paint gave way to a more hard-edged approach to abstract forms and spaces. “In terms of painting, immense possibilities seemed to open, based on elementary geometric forms: the point, the circle, vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, the triangles and the square” (Geeti Sen, Bindu: Space and Time in Raza’s Vision, Media Transasia Ltd, New Delhi, 1997, p. 126). However, instead of renouncing symbolism, a goal other artists like Frank Stella and Kevin Noland strove towards through their abstract works, Raza’s geometric vocabulary was deeply immersed in ancient Indian cosmological symbolism.

One of Raza’s earliest and largest fractured geometric paintings, “Bhartiya Samaroh highlights distinct symbols and their collective narrative. The recurring use of motifs like the Bindu or the triangular yoni, are significant in their repetition as they form a language of symbols to interpret Raza’s aesthetic oeuvre. This painting seems almost to ‘read’ as a story with the differently patterned squares coming together to form a whole construct. But it would be a mistake to treat Raza’s imagery as purely decorative. Each fragment of the whole has a metaphysical significance all its own – like the Bindu which is the primordial life-force or the triangles which represent germination. But more importantly, the images also work together as components of a central idea” (Zehra Jumabhoy, S.H. Raza, Saffronart and Berkeley Square Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2005, not paginated).

The title of this painting, Bhartiya Samaroh, which loosely translates as Indian festival or gathering, “…reinforces what these visually disparate images share. Raza sees his images as inherently Indian. ‘My present work is emerging not only from tantric sources and yantras, but also innumerable other Indian sources’, he declares. Each different symbol then can be traced to Indian philosophy. Both Hindu and Sufi thought stress that while the fundamental nature of the Universe is One and Indivisible, the self as it exists in the material world, appears to function as an independent entity. Raza’s painting symbolizes the nature of the ‘visible’ world. Just as the self appears separated from other selves, so in this work each image appears visually distinct. And just as each self is really part of the Whole, so too does each symbol inevitably feed into the same notion of reality. The circular Bindu is a symbol of eternity, but as the beej or seed it is also the starting point of life, which in turn connects it to the triangular yonis that are representative of fertility and the abundance of nature” (Ibid.).

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