S. H. Raza's Point of Focus

Born in 1922, in Babaria, Madhya Pradesh, the late and legendary modernist painter S. H. Raza has garnered every laurel possible. Raza is known for a vast repertoire of geometric symbols, strong colour tonalities and the iconic bindu motif. He is also one of the founders of Bombay Progressive Artists Group (1947). As a child, he was intrigued by Hinduism, which his parents encouraged him to explore. He disliked school, but preferred spending his time outdoors. One day, as an exercise to help him concentrate, his teacher drew a dot on a white wall, and asked him to focus on it. He didn't realize it then, that was to be the moment when the bindu was embedded in his subconscious---an element that influenced much of his work throughout his career. Explaining the bindu, he told India Today in 2015: "It's a religious perception of colour. Just as you would say 'Ram, Ram, Ram' or 'Allah, Allah, Allah' you say 'Bindu, Bindu, Bindu'."