“I’m just learning myself. Besides, I’m a businessman by profession,” the fifty-four years old Tirtha Sthapit said to the bunch of amused beholders at his second emboss art exhibition at Nepal Art Gallery. To his surprise, they were all praises. [break]
“I had not expected that,” he told afterwards. Sthapit, who still feels he is more a businessman than an artist feels his works are amateur efforts. Of course, many wouldn’t agree.
The thirty-three etchings put in the exhibition were inspired one fine day, when a carpenter was filling the holes in his staircase with sawdust. The first time when he saw the malleable paste of sawdust and adhesive he had some faint intuition that he could do something better with it. But it took him a fortnight to finally decide he was giving away his business and becoming an artist – something he never thought he would be.
When he started etching he hadn’t thought it would win him the NAFA special prize immediately after the first exhibition in 2006. But when he saw people liked his work, that single award was enough to let go of everything and concentrate whole three years for this exhibition.
Most of the works are based on traditional monuments and landscapes. The dark brownish color of sawdust has made the monumental etchings seem real. Of course, technically there are flaws in his painting skill, but the fact that he never went to any art class only makes them praiseworthy. Almost every work was copied from photographs. Actually, he hasn’t visited some of the monuments he has etched – Changunarayan of Bhaktapur being one of them.
“Now, isn’t that funny,” he gushed, to which his wife replied with a smile.
Growing up as the son of a carpenter, art was something that he knew wasn’t for him. So, when his brothers opened an audio cassette shop, he fancied to become a businessman. “I also took a yearlong course on business.” But the bulky books were sufficient to scare him off. And then he never went to college again.
When some senior artists suggested him to share his etching skills to junior artists he had the laugh of his life. “And me!” he laughed. “I cannot even imagine teaching something I myself didn’t learn.”
The self taught artist, who looked after the audio cassette shop decided to give up the profession when the demand for CDs outnumbered that of cassette. “I just don’t know why, but I think there is something vulgar about CDs,” he paused for long time to rationalize it. When he knew he couldn’t, he switched the conversation to other things.
“I’ve found a great solace in art,” he spoke naively. “Being the son of businessman, I always missed doing what I really wanted to do.”
As a child he wanted to play football but could not do so as he had to look after the shop and forty-eight years passed without him touching football.
According to him, he has now realized that life isn’t worth living if you don’t live up according to yourself. “Of course, art is not as lucrative as business. But I’ve no regrets.”
Although Sthapit didn’t take any course in etching, currently it is taught in Fine Art College, Kathmandu University and Shrijana College of Arts. According to Uma Shankar Shah, lecturer of etching at Fine Art College, etching was introduced to Nepal in early 70’s when late King Mahendra sent Urmila Upadhyaya to study etching in Paris.
“Within three decades, we’ve been able to produce caliber etching artists. But not many galleries are interested to promote them now,” he told.
Unlike painting etching can be reproduced from same copy as many times as desired. And since the price is distributed to each copy it is also comparatively cheaper.
bhushita@myrepublica.com
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