Bird, Tree and Mountain 1972

Jagdish Swaminathan painted "Bird, Tree and Mountain" sometime in the 20th century using what looks like oil on canvas, and the forms he paints emerge from a process that feels intuitive. The lines that form these triangular planes have a very tactile quality, giving the mountains a kind of soft, almost fuzzy texture, which is juxtaposed against the flatness of the yellow ground. There's this one spot, right at the top, where he's painted a tiny bird, perched precariously on the mountain's edge, this little mark suggests a real sense of scale, and almost feels like a symbol of hope or freedom. I'm reminded of Etel Adnan, the way she similarly reduced landscapes down to their bare essentials, using colour and form to evoke a sense of place and emotion. And just as with Adnan, this piece embraces a kind of beautiful ambiguity, inviting us to bring our own interpretations and experiences to it.