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“For some years Raza has been primarily occupied with an extraordinary series of meditative symbolic paintings, using linear structures to simplify the elements of the universe and the key components of our lives. In conventional art-speak one could describe them as ‘geometric abstraction’, but as a description of his genius this does not come close to interpreting the conception and evolution of these paintings, and the fundamental spiritual... “For some years Raza has been primarily occupied with an extraordinary series of meditative symbolic paintings, using linear structures to simplify the elements of the universe and the key components of our lives. In conventional art-speak one could describe them as ‘geometric abstraction’, but as a description of his genius this does not come close to interpreting the conception and evolution of these paintings, and the fundamental spiritual dimension to them… At the epicentre of many of these paintings is a dark, blank void. Emanating from this inner core the forms and shapes are like veins, energising and giving life to the painting. The viewer begins a visual journey outwards from this centre, a journey through the elements of life itself. Raza explains that at the heart of this unique visual language lie the five key symbols of fire and water, earth, wind and sky, brought together within a geometric framework that also contains signifiers of fertility and fruitfulness, all together underlining the inevitable interrelationship of the key components of the universe and the interconnections of our humble lives within it” (S. H. Raza, Saffronart and Berkeley Square Gallery exhibition catalogue, London, 2005, not paginated).

Titled Suryodaya or ‘sunrise’, this large canvas is illuminated by the gentle heat of the morning sun that appears to rise along its left margin. Recalling the palette of burnt sienna, ochre and umber that he turned to in the mid 1980s to evoke the heat and passions of central India where he was born and raised, Raza creates an entire ‘climate of experience’ for his viewers, emphasizing the role of light and the significance of the cycle of day and night in the universal generative process. Placing the bindu encased in a square of colours depicting the five elements of nature at the heart of the work, Raza once again turns to the metaphor of bindu as bija or seed – the essence of all creation, the source of all life, and the site of fertilization, germination and growth.

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