Nasreen Mohamedi

Acquired in Karachi from the artist’s family
Thence by descent 

There is very minor creasing in the work and two small dents to paper in the lower left quadrant, possibly inherent. Scattered foxing visible on the paper notable along the top edges and lower right corner and some minor staining due to age, particularly in the lower right. There are very minor surface scratches to black pigment in the center, right of center and upper quadrant which are visible only upon close inspection.
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“Repetition and recollection are the same movement, just in opposite directions, because what is recollected has already been and is thus repeated backwards, whereas genuine repetition is recollected forwards…. Repetition, on the other hand, is transcendence.” (G. Kapur, ‘Again a Difficult Task Begins’, Nasreen Mohamedi: Waiting Is a Part of Intense Living, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2015, p. 165)
The religious way in which Nasreen Mohamedi completes her seemingly simplistic lines is indicative of her intellectual and spiritual interests in Daoism, Zen Buddhism, Sufism, and the Bhakti tradition.  Repetition is a key practice within all of these Eastern religions. Through repetitive acts of devotion or mediation higher levels of consciousness and elevation are attained.  By preparing for repetition pure spontaneity can come through, which in Dao, Zen, and Sufi belief systems is something that only higher beings can fully experience.  Through this self-cultivation, Mohamedi trains her artistic practice so that the appearance of repetition instead underscores the difference in works.
Mohamedi’s drawings, reminiscent of concrete puzzles of urban streets also carry influences from the Arabian Desert, Mughal architecture, Islamic calligraphy, and the natural occurrences such as the motion of waves.  The horizon lines levitate among the removing the sense of grid lines. Her forms float on the paper and emphasize the asymmetry of her works.  “While it seemed like Nasreen was embarking on an exercise of ‘symmetry’ in her grid drawings, almost everything that followed was symmetrical. The density of the lines varied, depending on the ‘load’ of the ink she carried in her pen; her horizontal lines almost never had corresponding verticals, but instead had ‘fragile, stringy lines that looped into the horizontals, resulting in a ‘precarious joinery’ rather than a ‘pristine grid.’” (S. Gopinath, ‘There is always chaos and confusion, but it is in the mind and the will that bring order’, Tate Etc, issue 31, http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/there-always-chaos-and-confusion-it-mind-and-will-bring-order, 2014)
Taking further guidance from Zen Buddhism, Mohamedi perfectly encapsulates a  disconnect between the object and how one is trained to perceive it.  This representation of an object signifies the Zen belief that there is nothing to behold.  Additionally, to understand an object we must view it from within – in doing so we become one with it.
The shape follows the Bauhaus aesthetic of less is more. The horizon is cropped and there is a manufactured proximity inherent to the architectural grid lines and Mohamedi’s lines on the paper.
“Walking among vast spaces – space filled with intricate forms, lines arriving filled with various textures, footsteps inside feet – lines arriving and receding into lost space – the horizons keeping the limitless in limits – all forming a whole.” (N. Mohamedi, ‘Preface’, Nasreen Mohamedi: Waiting Is a Part of Intense Living, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2015, p. 9)
Since 2003, Mohamedi has had frequent exhibitions and retrospectives across the world. Her works have been highlighted at Tate Liverpool, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid and an upcoming show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Mohamedi intentionally left her works undated and unsigned, which has left her oeuvre open to historical debate and dialogue.