KATHMANDU

It's always fascinating to wonder about what young minds behold. Their imagination, perception, and execution of something can help one to understand them and their world, which might have the tendency to astonish anyone.

And such tendency is visible in the exhibition '...solace of mind...Fractal Utopia' by two 'Young Artists Studio Support Residency Program 2.0' recipients Ryan Rajbhandari and Sunil Pandey. Bikalpa Art Center organized the exhibition on December 31 at Bikalpa Art Center, Pulchowk.

The exhibition incorporates their drawings, visual journal/diaries, painting, light, and sound installation art. Meanwhile, on the opening day of the exhibition, a collaborative sound art performance was done by visual artist, Anil Subba, along with projection mapping, live art performance, and experimental music.

As the title of the exhibition, the artworks on display definitely show the meditative aspects of the artists, where they take help from surrealism. The artworks feature unusual beings and landscapes. This shows their inclination to the outer world rather than the Earth. Most of the drawings are in black and white which could signify the positive and negative aspects of their thinking.

Though both of them use surrealism in their drawings, their work is different from each other. Shushant is more focused on extraterrestrial beings and aliens; while Sunil focuses on landscapes, microorganisms and plays with light and shades. When asked what art is for Shushant, he expressed, “Art is everything for me. It is a rhythmic component that balances life.”

 Likewise, Sunil explained, “For me, the meaning of art differs according to your age, geographical condition, and your perception of the situation. Time has a huge role to play on how you perceive art.”

 About the exhibition, the curator of the exhibition Saroj Mahhat shared, "I find their works steeped in the beliefs of Eastern philosophy and spirituality. Meditation is often used as the means to observe and understand the nature of the thoughts; how one relentlessly precedes the other and continuously occupies the mind with an aimless stream of thoughts. Through automatism, the duo seeks to maintain equanimity and observes the parts of nature from a non-judgmental point of view.”

He further added that Solace of Mind, Fractal Utopia is a masterful interplay of new mediums and methods, the duo artists, Sunil and Ryan, creating a world that brims with a cosmos of tiny microorganism patterns, abstract figures, and biomorphic formations in an intricate juxtaposition of interdisciplinary visual languages.

Their joint installation art using materials like threads, lights, dry leaves, clothes and more gives an eerie feeling yet an exciting experience, where you can walk around the room freely experiencing the art. This installation lets you experience the surrealistic environment which does complement their drawings and paintings on display.

According to them, the installation work is the outcome of their curiosity, on how it would be if 2D drawings and paintings could be experienced in 3D. And this curiosity spontaneously helped them to build up the artwork using materials found in their surroundings.

The exhibition continues till Friday.