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Lot Essay
While S. H Raza's first compositions based on the concept of nature (Prakriti) and the theme of creation were marked by fluid, gestural brushstrokes, this notion was soon adapted to the planned, geometrical pictorial structures that characterised his paintings from the 1980s onward. In the present painting, Raza pushes his nonrepresentational idiom to its limits, assembling colour sequences and shapes in a fine, grid-like composition. Using a luminous spectrum of hues, the artist creates a hypnotic visual diagram with the five primary colours that synthesises the potent symbolism of colour from Eastern and Western iconographic traditions.
The concept of nature remains pervasive and integral in this work. Raza uses specific colours and shapes to signify natural phenomena and different phases of the eternal cycle of life. Holding together the pattern of horizontals, chevrons and concentric circles, is a bindu, or the black orb at the centre, interpreted as both the seed where the genesis of creation takes place and a void representing its ultimate end.
More than just an abstract graphic device, the bindu recurs on the canvas with many variations. It is the focal point of meditation and concentrated energy and represents Raza's entire perception of the universe. The series of inverted triangles above and below the bindu symbolise fertility and germination, alluding to the tree of life and prakriti, or the universal feminine force that balances purush, the male force.
During a visit to the United States and Canada in the early 1960s, Raza was considerably affected by the work of Abstract Expressionist and Minimalist artists such as Mark Rothko and Frank Stella. In terms of methodical repetition and concentric sequencing, a link can be made between Stella's works and Raza's Prakrti. But where Stella wanted to eradicate subjective emotion, Raza's works are suffused with a deep spirituality. "There is an implicit sense of timelessness which is all pervasive, which brings a different meaning to his pictures. There is no reference here, as with his earlier work [...] Instead he has "abstracted" from nature its essence, its deeper implications for mankind." (G. Sen, Bindu: Space and Time in Raza's Vision, New Delhi, 1997, p. 27)
The concept of nature remains pervasive and integral in this work. Raza uses specific colours and shapes to signify natural phenomena and different phases of the eternal cycle of life. Holding together the pattern of horizontals, chevrons and concentric circles, is a bindu, or the black orb at the centre, interpreted as both the seed where the genesis of creation takes place and a void representing its ultimate end.
More than just an abstract graphic device, the bindu recurs on the canvas with many variations. It is the focal point of meditation and concentrated energy and represents Raza's entire perception of the universe. The series of inverted triangles above and below the bindu symbolise fertility and germination, alluding to the tree of life and prakriti, or the universal feminine force that balances purush, the male force.
During a visit to the United States and Canada in the early 1960s, Raza was considerably affected by the work of Abstract Expressionist and Minimalist artists such as Mark Rothko and Frank Stella. In terms of methodical repetition and concentric sequencing, a link can be made between Stella's works and Raza's Prakrti. But where Stella wanted to eradicate subjective emotion, Raza's works are suffused with a deep spirituality. "There is an implicit sense of timelessness which is all pervasive, which brings a different meaning to his pictures. There is no reference here, as with his earlier work [...] Instead he has "abstracted" from nature its essence, its deeper implications for mankind." (G. Sen, Bindu: Space and Time in Raza's Vision, New Delhi, 1997, p. 27)