KATHMANDU, August 27: A painting exhibition by Reeta Manandhar, 'Cultural Expressions' is being held at Nepal Art Council, Babermahal. Susan Shrestha, executive director of Agni Group, inaugurated the exhibition on Friday. 

The artist beautifully depicts her Newari background through her paintings. The paintings are mostly themed on festivals, cultures, gods, food items, and chariots.

The artist, at the exhibition, has showcased a total of 22 paintings that she created since 2010. The artworks are all acrylic on canvas. Among them, five paintings center Lord Ganesh and two center the living goddess, Kumari. 

Reeta has extracted constituents from culture and painted it using a distinctively festive theme. The titles of the paintings were simple words that keep high importance in traditions like 'Ganesh', 'Machhindranaath', 'Manda', 'Holi', 'Peace', and 'Unity', among others. 

At the entrance, a huge mandala on the ground made using flowers and colored powder catches everyone’s attention from the very beginning. 

The artist has used a spatula to paint several colors through patch technique giving a variant and jubilant look to the artworks, especially in the paintings 'Yomari' and 'Peace'. She has used the colors red and orange in most paintings and said this was because these colors represent our culture and the underlying excitement. 

The exhibit also features an eight-photo collage 'Astamangal' that includes eight different aspects of important Newari rituals.

The painting 'Holi' is an abstract yet bright and mesmerizing combination of colors. In the midst of the mixture of blue, pink and yellow colors, a temple and an umbrella that are taken out in jatras have been painted. The combination is a distinct recollection of joy and devotion during festivals. 

"Basantapur is the art hub of the town, as cultures and several festivals are celebrated in the area amid much enthusiasm. So, I have tried to extract elements from the Newari culture and Basantapur for this series,” said Reeta. 

The exhibition is slated to conclude on Tuesday.