In this Untitled, 1981, from his series Variations on the Horizon, Rafa Nasiri reveals the intermingling and disintegration of the boundaries between heaven and earth. The composition is divided into an upper 1/4 section in faded red ochre above the horizon and a lower 3/4 in varying tones of black, representing a landform. In the central upper part of the print, we see an organic rounded shape, symbolizing the sun, upon which the artist has registered floating Arabic letters.

Nasiri’s avant-garde skills in viscosity printing allowed both the textures and the variations of colors in this print to be etched on a single plate. This method uses inks of several viscosities applied to various layers of the etching, where rollers of varying softness reach deeper into the etched sections of the plate, and the different viscosities of the inks repel each other. This approach enables a range of colors to be printed with just one plate and in a single pass. Textures created through viscose ink allowed Nasiri to portray the natural surfaces. This print shows the evolution of the series Variations on the horizon towards a more complicated relationship between heaven and earth. It also highlights Nasiri’s developing use of calligraphy in print.

In Untitled, 1981, the mass of letter forms, which Nasiri usually confined to the bottom section, representing the realm of humanity's influence in Chinese cosmography, is now occupying the upper space. This position switch has moved the cluster of letters to the section representing the perfection of the heavens as a celestial place. The abstract stains, usually occupying the upper portion of the artwork and forming the sky, now blend into the lower half of the print. 

The top cluster of letters is framed by a series of nuqat, often a symbol of the oneness of God as creator and origin. Thus, the letter forms transcend their role as meaningless isolated letters,  as Nasiri positions them in the heavens. The outlined letters below accentuate spaces of absence where black ink has not been printed by using a stop-out to prevent etching on these areas. The letters evoke a sense of timbre as the viewer tries to sound out a word that never forms, eliciting other words and connections in their mind. This transcendental aspect gives the letterforms a poetic charge within a cosmic system presented by Nasiri. Above the beige line, amongst shadows of ink pools and scratches, faint impressions of letters that never fully emerged can be seen, whispering back to the more apparent letters on show. 

Signed and dated in English lower right front with edition front lower left