Vasudeo S Gaitonde, an abstractionist painter, was born in 1924, Nagpur, Maharashtra His parents were of Goan heritage Gaitonde received his diploma from JJ School of Arts, Bombay in 1948 He was invited to join the Progressive Artists Group which was formed in 1947 by his contemporaries like FNSouza, SHRaza and MFHussain In 1956, he participated in the Indian art exhibition, which was held in Eastern European countries He also participated in other group exhibitions held at the Graham Art Gallery, New York, in 1959 and 1963 In 1957, he was awarded the first prize at the Young Asian Artists Exhibition, Tokyo and the Rockefeller Fellowship followed in 1964 In 1971, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India A drastic accident caused him to take an interlude from painting on canvases This diverted his attention to paper works seen in today’s day His ink works consist of non mimetic calligraphic and hieroglyphic markings Gaitonde was intrigued by Zen philosophy and the teachings of J Krishnamurthy, which highlighted his fantasies in the dynamics of Tantra and Tantric art His artwork was a simplistic marriage between presence and absence where motion met stillness He passed away on the 10th of August, 2001 in New Delhi, in obscurity