Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

"Bindu" by Jay McCafferty, circa 1981

$4,830
£3,732.01
€4,314.56
CA$6,825.14
A$7,654.85
CHF 4,008.73
MX$93,013.86
NOK 50,904.09
SEK 48,260.67
DKK 32,205.92

About the Item

"Bindu" by Jay McCafferty, 1981 Solar burns on paper, framed behind glass, 3' x 5' A singular work of quiet intensity, Bindu by Jay McCafferty reveals the meditative force behind his distinctive solar burn technique. Created in 1981, this 3-by-5-foot piece is composed entirely of marks made by sunlight—each burn meticulously placed using a magnifying glass to focus the sun’s rays directly onto paper. The result is a pattern both organic and rhythmic, evoking lacework, constellations, or coded language, depending on the viewer’s gaze. McCafferty, a Southern California native (1948–2021), was known not only for his pioneering use of nontraditional mediums but also for his influential presence within the California conceptual art movement. After receiving his MFA from UC Irvine, he began experimenting with process-driven works that emphasized repetition, labor, and environmental interaction. His “solar burn” series emerged from these ideas, translating the ephemeral force of sunlight into lasting visual form. The title Bindu—a Sanskrit word meaning "point" or "seed"—reflects McCafferty’s philosophical alignment with stillness, introspection, and the passage of time. Each mark on this surface is both literal and metaphorical: a physical trace of a single sunbeam and a symbolic gesture toward the slow, deliberate unfolding of form. McCafferty’s work is held in major institutional collections including the Museum of Modern Art, LACMA, and the Getty. Pieces like Bindu underscore his unique approach to material and time, offering viewers not just visual beauty, but a deeper encounter with patience, presence, and the sublime.
  • Creator:
    Jay McCafferty (Artist)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 60 in (152.4 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
    1980-1989
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1981
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    Palm Desert, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1661245194312

More From This Seller

View All
Painting Oil on Canvas Inside Drawing Room with Set Table, Signed Crigensm
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Painting - oil on canvas - Inside Drawing Room with Set Table. Signed Crigensm. Early 20th Century.
Category

Early 20th Century Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Paint

Large French Painted Panel with a Countryside Scene Framed by Arabesque Designs
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A large and very decorative French oil on canvas painted panel featuring a countryside scene of a walking man from the beginning of the 20th century. The centre of the panel features...
Category

Early 20th Century French Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Paint

Oil on Canvas Painted in 2013 Signed Orchids with Paper
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Oil on canvas painted in 2013. Signed "meziat" titled and dated "Renato Meziat, Orchids with Paper".
Category

2010s Paintings

Materials

Canvas

Louis-Eugene Lambert, King of the Hill
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Louis-Eugene Lambert, King of the Hill.
Category

Antique Late 19th Century Paintings

Materials

Paint

Huge Acrylic Painting Signed, Titled and Dated "Leda Catunda, Emelec, 2011"
By Leda Catunda
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Huge acrylic painting signed, titled and dated "Leda Catunda, Emelec, 2011". Measures 71 7/8" x 75".
Category

2010s Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Unusual Painted Bronze and Brass Kinetic Sculpture on Granite Base Signed
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Unusual painted bronze and brass kinetic sculpture on granite base. Signed by Charles Ringer.
Category

Vintage 1980s Mobiles and Kinetic Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

You May Also Like

"Baby" by Robert Kushner, 1978
By Robert Kushner
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Watercolor on paper by the noted artist Robert Kushner. It is on 3 pieces of paper affixed to a board backing. Signed and dated 1978 lower right and titled "Baby" lower left. Origina...
Category

Vintage 1970s American Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Baby" by Robert Kushner, 1978
$3,300 Sale Price
40% Off
Dan Christensen "PONA" 1977
By Dan Christensen
Located in Dallas, TX
"PONA"; Dan Christensen. 1977, USA. Acrylic and gesso on canvas. Signed, titled and dated on reverse "D. Christensen Pona, 1977".  
Category

Vintage 1970s American Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Gesso, Canvas

Oil on canvas, Bruna Gasparini, "Untitled," 1993, Italy
Located in Vicenza, VI
Bruna Gasparini was an outstanding self-taught painter. He moved to Venice in 1937, where he cultivated his passion for painting, actively inserting himself into the cultural fabric ...
Category

1990s Italian Modern Paintings

Materials

Canvas

Vincent Gassin-Gradstein 'Untitled' painting - France, 1994
Located in London, GB
A loose wash of curves sweep across this expansive work by contemporary French artist Vincent Gassin-Gradstein. Layered, expressive, and reduced of figuration, a single square holds ...
Category

1990s French Paintings

Materials

Canvas

Large Frank Faulkner (1946 - 2018) Mixed Media on LInen in Frame
By Frank Faulkner
Located in Dallas, TX
Media consists of fiber, paint, shellac on a linen canvas. Beautiful wood frame. Frank Faulkner by Philip Herrera, 2006: Born in Sumter, South Carolina in 1946, Frank Faulkner received his B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1968, Phi Beta Kappa, and his M.F.A. from the same institution in 1972. Faulkner’s work quickly won him numerous grants and awards, including an individual artist grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1974. He was selected for the Whitney Biennial in 1975, which prompted him to settle in New York. There, he came to the attention of Dorothy Miller, Curator Emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art with a legendary eye for new talent. Since then, Faulkner has continued to garner acclaim and awards. He has been featured in dozens of one-person exhibitions (not to mention group exhibitions) in this country, as well as in Japan, Switzerland, and Germany. Faulkner’s work is owned by leading museums (the Smith College museum in Northampton, Massachusetts, for example, the National Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C.) and by renowned collectors such as Nelson Rockefeller, Baron Leon Lambert, Phillip Hanes and Abba Eban. What a viewer first notices is the sheer elegance of the pieces, no matter what materials Faulkner uses—metal, wood and fabric as well as canvas and paper. Obvious, too, is the artist’s originality. Faulkner belongs to no school. His work is patterned but is far too intellectual to qualify as so-called “pattern art,” which mainly strives to be merely pretty. Rather, he paints in his own highly organized way, filling the surface without being excessive or boring. Faulkner sets up a system, say, of dots or dashes, then subtly changes the visual rhythms in order to add life and surprise—what he calls “the gymnastics of seeing.” He works and reworks the surfaces of his canvases, often laying down one thin layer of slightly reflective gold, silver or bronze paint upon another until the final work seems to glow with inner light. John Ashbery, a leading critic and poet, has likened Faulkner’s art to minimalist music, which achieves both simplicity and beauty from its obsessive repetitions. The critic Carter Ratcliff describes it more simply as “brilliant artifice.” Faulkner’s current work, a series of paintings on paper, continues and deepens this exploration of the relationship between wrought surface and changing light. Another striking aspect of the work is the influence of the decorative arts. Faulkner has made some paintings on wood that stand independently and fold open like screens. Other pieces resemble large tapestries, and yet others take their inspiration from Art Nouveau inlays...
Category

20th Century North American Modern Contemporary Art

Materials

Linen, Natural Fiber, Paint

Valdemar Jordan '1925-2004', Swedish Artist, Collage, Late 20th Century
Located in København, Copenhagen
Valdemar Jordan (1925-2004), Swedish artist. Collage. Late 20th century. The board measures: 58 x 35 cm. Frame measures: 2 cm. Signed. In very good condition.
Category

Late 20th Century Swedish Contemporary Art

Materials

Fabric