Untitled

Artist: Piraji Sagara
Year: 1969
Medium: Oil on Board
Size: 49 x 97 inches 

This large-scale abstract painting masterful command of color, texture, and spatial ambiguity. Executed in oil on board, the work invites viewers into a rich, tactile landscape where form and hue interact in subtle yet powerful ways. The composition is anchored by a warm, golden-brown ground that dominates the canvas. This earthy tone, rendered in varying shades and textures, provides both a physical and emotional foundation for the piece. It evokes a sense of warmth and age—almost as though the surface itself has absorbed time. The texture is uneven and painterly, enhancing the organic feel of the work.

To the left side of the painting, a large, irregular mass of deep navy blue rises from the golden base. This form is bold yet non-representational, offering a dramatic contrast to the surrounding palette. Within and around this navy field are patches of off-white and cream. These lighter elements appear semi-translucent, allowing glimpses of the golden-brown layer beneath to peek through, creating a subtle luminosity and depth. Sagara’s careful use of color continues with small, scattered accents of burnt orange and deep red. These tones punctuate the composition, used sparingly yet deliberately, to create rhythm and balance. The reddish hues are particularly noticeable in a vertical section on the right side of the board. This area, rendered in a rough, worn manner, introduces a feeling of erosion or weathering, contrasting with the more stable and solid forms on the opposite side.

Near the center of the piece, where the navy and off-white zones converge, faint yellow tints emerge almost like a soft glow. These scattered highlights lend vitality and motion to the central axis, suggesting quiet energy at the heart of the painting. There is no central focal point; instead, the painting relies on an atmospheric balance of movement, texture, and chromatic layering. The interplay of rough and refined, of opacity and translucence, of warm and cool tones, creates a deeply meditative experience.

In this work, Piraji Sagara distills abstraction into a language that is both personal and universal. The result is a painting that feels simultaneously grounded and ephemeral, offering the viewer a richly textured world of introspective resonance.