Important Notice

In an idiom created using a vibrant primary palette and distinctively arranged geometric forms, Raza communicates to his viewers the eternal processes of nature and the universe that sustain the cycles of life. Simultaneously organic and spiritual, Raza's geometric canvases are not about control, precision and symmetry. Rather, the artist's use of carefully constructed shapes in various permutations defies a scientific or ordered worldview by... In an idiom created using a vibrant primary palette and distinctively arranged geometric forms, Raza communicates to his viewers the eternal processes of nature and the universe that sustain the cycles of life. Simultaneously organic and spiritual, Raza's geometric canvases are not about control, precision and symmetry. Rather, the artist's use of carefully constructed shapes in various permutations defies a scientific or ordered worldview by breaking down and presenting Nature through its most elemental forms. Through this vivid symbolism, Raza understands the act of painting as worship of the divine force that creates and controls life.

"Raza's practice of symbolic abstraction has demonstrated that abstraction can also articulate an embracing of sringara, a joyous reaching-out experience. The abstractionist need not be a self-denying ascetic or a slave to the stimulations of the senses; rather, he can flourish through a dynamic interplay between these positions, savouring the world as a coded invitation that rewards the deciphering self with an expansion of consciousness" (Ranjit Hoskote, Painting as Japa: Recent Works by S.H. Raza, Art Musings exhibition catalogue, 2004, not paginated).

In the present lot, Raza uses a warm palette to pay homage to one of the five primary constituents of nature: fire. Although nature has always inspired the artist's work, it was only during the mid-1980s that Raza began to overtly depict its five basic elements in various combinations and manifestations using geometric forms and bright, primary colours. In using this non-representative idiom, based on ancient Indian ideas of nature and its forces, "…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, New Delhi, 1997, p. 27).

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