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Lot 71

Raza has always been in awe of nature and its five constituent elements – earth, water, fire, sky and ether. Although nature has always inspired the artist`s work, it was only during the 1980s that Raza began to overtly pay homage to its basic elements and their various combinations and manifestations in his painting. “In using abstraction…Raza turns away from the external to the internal substance. There is an implicit sense of timelessness... Raza has always been in awe of nature and its five constituent elements – earth, water, fire, sky and ether. Although nature has always inspired the artist`s work, it was only during the 1980s that Raza began to overtly pay homage to its basic elements and their various combinations and manifestations in his painting. “In using abstraction…Raza turns away from the external to the internal substance. 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” (Geeti Sen, Bindu: Space and Time in Raza`s Vision, Media Transasia, 1997, p. 27).

Several of these `abstract`, geometrically constructed works, with their tightly controlled colour and form, reflect the artist`s strong belief that together, nature and its elements are the source and end of all things, including human life. Symbolic of this generating and culminating omnipotence is the `bindu` or seed that forms the heart of many of Raza`s meditations on the natural world.

“As with a mantra that increases manifold with repetition, so also the Bindu acquires latent forces of energies. The circle within a square, expanding in energy, radiant in primary colours, becomes an icon for meditation. This iconic representation has transformed into a language, a genre unto itself that allows Raza and his art to interpret the complexity and depth of an ancient philosophy. Raza comments: By very simple means, I am convinced, one can attain infinity!” (Geeti Sen, “The Seed and the Fruit: Metaphors in Raza`s Painting, S. H. Raza, Saffronart exhibition catalogue, 2005).

In this piece, titled Amar Jiva or eternal life, the artist alludes to the everlasting natural cycle of generation, growth, and death. Using a cool, aqueous palette, Raza uses this canvas to play on two of the many interpretations of the concept of bindu. In his portrayal of two trees at the upper right and left corners of the canvas, Raza highlights bindu as the germ of all creation, transferring life-force and energy to all beings through its constant vibration. However, Raza also suggests that bindu is `zero` or a void where transient beings meet their ends. It is in this duality and the circle of life it perpetuates, that Raza recognizes the supremacy of nature over mortals like himself and his viewers.

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