Sayed Haider Raza first painted the Bindu in the late 1970s as a single solid black dot that lay unmoving at the center of a field of colors. Through the years, however, this circle or bindu manifested itself in various forms in his works and took on several different meanings, as zero, drop, or seed. It became less of a graphical component and more as the focal point on which Raza structured his canvases.
Here, the artist has turned to yet another interpretation of the bindu, executed in an almost abstinent palette of white and grays. Titled, Shanti – Bindu, the rings that radiate from the spherical white core of the painting transmits outward spreading tranquility and calmness. Once again, the bindu was transformed, from a pulsing black orb to a gentler quality, emitting an image of ethereal stillness and peace.
Likening his monochromatic works to his spiritual journey, Raza posited: “I have found a divine quest in me to come to the essentials. Less is more. And I thought, that to express my aspirations to the divine, I would use fewer colors, to create a sacred feel.”
Auction Catalogue – South Asian Art – ‘Modern and Contemporary’ – March 12 -16, 2020