UNFATHOMABLE 2022

Snake Charming, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Discernment, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Dead Heading, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Danskin Dakini, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Eighth Son, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Balancing Act, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Sixth Day of the Moon, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Rebirth, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Offering to Bahuchara Mata, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

That Which Exists Is One, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

From One Came Thousands More, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Asherah, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Celibate Warrior, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Purification: Yamuna and the Cosmic Tortoise, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Protector of Children, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Bahuchara Ma: Patroness of the Hijra 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

Sea Change, 2022, Oil on Arches paper, 22"w x 30"h

These Unfathomable paintings attempt to depict the indescribable experience of godliness in human form-- a paradox in perfect balance, form without definition for which the laws of nature and reason do not apply. Less interested in exploring personal identity than Universal Identity; I utilized symbols and iconography of that which is boundless, immeasurable, vast, and nameless. Some of the subjects of these paintings are Indian deities - albeit "lesser-known" - whose ‘superpowers’ I admired, a few popular holy avatars, my fascination with the vahanas - the animals that serve as the deity's personal vehicles, and depictions of my experience with durational ritual and austerity.

At some point before I began what I call the "amalgamation process," I started to group these images in arrangements of two and three, thus making new meanings, narratives, and relationships in their triptych or diptych form. These new-found relationships forced an abstraction in which they appeared less representational and more aligned with my original purpose; representation of the un-representational. They really came to life when I started cutting them up and re-assembling them as both paper and digital collages; and from these new forms, the paintings from the next series, From One Tongue Came Thousands More, emerged.

Raghubir Kintisch, 2022