Montien Boonma (1953–2000), who was born in Bangkok, Thailand, graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from Silpakorn University, Bangkok, and later studied in France at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and the Université de Paris VIII, Faculté des Arts Plastiques, Saint-Denis. During his career Boonma participated in many group and solo exhibitions worldwide.

This work by Boonma is made of aluminium rubbed with graphite to create a dense opaque surface. Into this surface Boonma has repeatedly incised the meditation symbols for the sound 'om'. These symbols are most commonly seen in Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhist art, often drawn on the conical structure of a stupa which features the question mark/exclamation mark-like symbol between the stylised eyes. This work is a play on light and shadow, substance and absence, on being and nothingness. The angular planes that make up the sculpture gather together and appear to balance on one point on the floor. The work is attached to the wall for support which further heightens the illusion of weightlessness. In this sculpture Boonma explores these ideas of balance, illusion and substance — ideas that are also seminal to Buddhist meditation principles.

Meditation occupies a central place in Buddhism as it provides the discipline needed to attain Nirvana or spiritual release. The purpose of this act of concentration is to shift attention from the physical world and begin to comprehend the nature of reality. An essential part of this understanding is the contemplation of the complex relationships between matter and the immaterial.

On one corner of the horizontal surface of Black altar is a disc of a red herbal powder. The powder has been dusted onto the surface and results in the symbols being stencilled on to the floor beneath. Over time these marks begin to disintegrate, change and ultimately vanish. As the ephemeral component of the sculpture, this bright spot of colour underscores Boonma's intention to create an altar. By making an object using a set of simple and concentrated forms and including within its structure a transient component, Boonma has created in Black altar an elegant reflection on the power and fragility of existence.

Boonma was a devout Buddhist and turned to its discipline as a means of thinking about the contemporary world. Aware of a rapidly modernising Thai society and a related distancing and rupturing of traditional forms of spiritual life, he continued to reflect on Buddhist thought as an essential starting point for his practice. Boonma used familiar Buddhist symbols, such as the bowl, bell and lotus as a method of locating the works within a specific belief and ritual system. He also extended many of his sculptures to incorporate process based elements, such as the meditation sculptures. These works often appeal to the sensory aspects of the body — scent, sound, sight — as a means of creating a space to lead the viewer/participant into contemplation and reflection.

Often involving the use of traditional herbs smearing and lining the sculptures, these works construct a space in which the psychological/spiritual body was brought into focus via the physical. Boonma used a range of material, from earth and rice flour to terracotta, wood, steel and cement. He consistently explored the sensuality of his material but always as a means of offering a meditation. His works never drift into the realm of nostalgia for a lost tradition, but are instead rigorous and poetic articulations.