Almost There

Inspired by the traditions of Indian and particularly Buddhist painting, Manjunath Kamath here depicts a whorl of fire with its center hollowed out. A closer look revealsfragments of deities, flailing horse hooves and hindquarters, clouds, and sections of a Buddhist mandala. The hollowed center refers both to the concept of emptiness (shunyata), an important strand of Indian philosophical thought, and at the same time to the golden womb (hiranyagarbha)—the beginning of the universe and infinity itself.