“This is my first show in Kathmandu in quite a while,” says Shrestha, and reminisces, “The last one was a joint exhibit with Sujan Chitrakar in 2000 at the Nepal Art Council.”
Shrestha completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Lalit Kala Campus and headed to Bangalore where he completed his first MFA Degree in Painting and Art History from Bangalore University in 1999.
Although he started out in painting, he now primarily works with installations. When asked about the shift in his choice of medium, he says, “It wasn’t an abrupt decision but a gradual process. I began using various materials in my works such as sand, sawdust and brick dust besides paint, which led to my shift into installations.” He has not, however, totally abandoned painting, and plans to get back into it.
Installation art consists of creating three dimensional works at a chosen site. An artist’s decisions for his/her pieces are highly dependent on the environment of the location, and from composition to color choices. Shrestha’s installation consists of two pieces—an outdoor and an indoor. The exterior piece is entitled “Wall” and the interior is called “Rhythm of Solitude”
“Some of the venues that I had considered initially were Nepal Art Council, Patan Museum, Bhrikuti Mandap, and even some private places,” informs Shrestha. “I settled on Yala Maya Kendra because it best fits my concept.”
The theme of the exhibit revolves around violence in the world and in our daily lives. “Wall” is a piece that is made with bricks in the courtyard of the Kendra while “Rhythm of Solitude” consists of a two-hour-long video which is projected onto nine layers of muslin instead of a regular screen. Shrestha refuses to divulge more about his pieces until the opening of the show on the weekend. The opening, however, is restricted to exclusive guests, and the general public will have to wait until the morning of August 9 to see his pieces.
Shrestha uses “everyday materials” such as salt, wood, fabric, pigments, and bricks in his works. “These are materials that people can associate with everyday and are very much a part of us,” he says. The two pieces at the installation may be physically different but are tied together by their use of materials, the space and the subject. Some of Shrestha’s inspirations include British installation artist Andy Goldsworthy and American artist Ann Hamilton.
Shrestha is not much of a revealer, either, when it comes to his own identity. When Republica requested to take his photograph, he refused but offered to provide a still image from one of his previous works. He is an artist who wants to be known through his work.
“This archival inkjet print is a part of one of my performance pieces during which I sat still for half an hour,” apprises Shrestha. “I shaved my head and covered myself in red pigment bound by yogurt.” Titled “Untitled 2008,” the piece is about the body and of creating a different layer onto one’s skin. He chose the color red because of its significance in the Nepali culture. The print shows the artist with his tongue sticking out. More images of his works can be found on his website binodshrestha.net.
As a part of the exhibit, the artist will also be giving a lecture on the “History of Installation Art” on Wednesday, August 12 at 4 pm at the Kendra, open to public. When asked if he would repeat the same installation somewhere else, he replied, “Yes, if possible, I will, but it all depends on the availability of materials, appropriate sites and opportunities. The life of an artist is difficult in Nepal, as well as in the United States.”
Binod Shrestha’s show “Rhythm of Solitude” has been made possible by Quixote Cave’s (QC) Patron of the Arts, a new group of art supporters in Kathmandu.
Note: The exhibit will remain open for viewing till August 15 at the Yala Maya Kendra in Patan.
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