The idea behind 'Cause and Defect' was first conceived at a musty old studio tucked away in the backstreets of Montparnasse in France. This studio is famous for its former associations eg Miro, Braque and even Picasso as well for its more recent clientele. See David Lynch's recent film on IDEM Paris here.

Rajinder was there for a few weeks working on litho and stone prints. The first trial or test prints from a printing machine, defective and interesting in their own right, germinated the idea behind Cause and Defect.

An aerial view of IDEM (formerly Mourlot studios) in Paris

Rajinder working on stone at IDEM in Paris

In Cause and Defect, Rajinder romanticizes the defects in his paintings.The paintings in Cause & Defect are made entirely of lines that do not meet. If the slightest noise creeps into these perfectly parallel lines inadvertently connecting two adjacent lines, the underlying image alters.

It took miles and miles of masks to create the paintings in Cause and Defect. The process of making the paintings resembles sewing or crocheting in some ways - threading and unthreading - raveling and unraveling one sliver thin mask at a time. 

Piles of masks at Rajinder's studio 

The paintings in Cause & Defect have a palpable optic charge. They can make your head swim as you try to construct the underlying image by following the lines.