Kamal (lotus)

**Kamal (Lotus)** turns a devotional emblem into a testing ground for painting’s basics. On unprimed canvas, I push raw, watery pigment in coarse, looping strokes that bleed and stain rather than sit politely. The lotus—usually shorthand for serenity—floats in a turbulent field, its edges frayed by drips and speed. By pairing an elegant, culturally loaded symbol with an unfinished, abrasive surface, the work unsettles expectations of purity, finish and ‘meaningful’ iconography. It resists spiritualised exoticism and decorum, asking whether symbols stabilise a painting or merely decorate it. Here, the image is contested: a residue of action, not an ornamental certitude.