Work in Progress : KALI
A reflection on Kali , Hindu goddess . Kali means Kala or force of time, as she pierces the veil, beyond mortality , birth & death . She is known as the dark blue or black one, like the night sky , her darkness is the void from which everything emerged & will return. She is fierce, the destroyer of evil forces, and cuts off the root of fear , anger & all negativity in the human ego , symbolized by the demon with the severed head . Thus she is the great liberator, freeing us with divine knowledge to attain Moksha. Through all her fury, she is a compassionate goddess , also known as the Divine mother & protector in her creative & preservation aspects . Pictured here in her 10 armed form as Mahakali , legend has it she was called into being by Durga to defeat demons in battle. She then went so wild with bloodlust she couldn’t stop raging & started killing the humans & Gods, so her consort, Shiva, lay beneath her peacefully to calm her down. The sight of him , her love, pacified her.
This piece was painted around the time of writing a ritual to resolve an ancestral event , collaborating with The Liverpool Arts Lab and Cosmic Trigger Play crew. The tragic accident of the submarine Thetis that took the lives of 100 men in Liverpool bay including my Grandfather , 2 months before WW2. When painting this piece, i realised , if i turn it on its side , it looks like a submarine , with a man at peace under its ( Achilles ? ) heel . This was not deliberate, i painted this completely subconsciously.
