Acrylic · Ink · 2022Red Kali — Main
Kalighat patua line charged with expressionist stroke; deep indigo, blood red and bone white.
Red Kali
Acrylic · Ink on canvas · 2022 — fierce maternal as destroyer and protector.
Acrylic · Ink · 2022
Framed · 2022Red Kali — Framed
Framed state holding the goddess as mother, warrior and witness; battlefield and cremation ground in one body.
Red Kali is a series of paintings that invoke the fierce maternal — the goddess as both destroyer and protector. Drawing from Kalighat patua traditions and German expressionist woodcuts, these works are unflinching in their address of violence, sexuality, and liberation.
The palette is stark: deep indigo, blood red, and the white of bone. Figures emerge from and retreat into the darkness of the canvas. The hand is visible — aggressive strokes, scratched surfaces, moments where the brush seems thrown in devotional fury.
These works ask: what does it mean to paint the un-paintable? How do you render a goddess who is also a battlefield, a mother who is also a cremation ground? Red Kali offers no answers — only confrontations.