Drawing 7

Gaitonde's work has often been linked with Japanese motifs, the most important influence being that of Zen Buddhism. 'It was not that he discovered Zen but that there was an inevitable meeting between a way of thinking and a mind continuously exploring its relationship to the external world... Zen believes that the humblest of things, when meditated upon, can give rise to the most astounding intuitions, even in a moment. A bit of crumpled string or paper, or the edge of a leaf, can inspire the greatest intuitions of outstanding beauty.' (Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, Gaitonde, New Delhi, Lalit Kala Akademi, 1983, p. 5.)