The result of the workshop is an exhibition entitled “Process to Move” with 16 works of art which opened at the Gallery on October 4. The exhibition consists of 14 paintings, one installation piece, and one sculpture.
Govinda Prasad Sah ‘Azad’, the event coordinator, has three somber paintings – Process to Move I, II and III – hanging on the upper level of the gallery. His works have a unique presence in this group exhibition because of his dark palette. All three of his paintings use black heavily around the edges but have a soft glow of gold and gray in the center, almost like silver linings around dark ominous clouds.
“I’ve been working on the subject of clouds for many years,” informs the artist and explains, “Even though there’s much interference in our lives, I have an optimistic outlook on things, and I feel that artists should move ahead through art.”
Perhaps the glows refer to his optimism. In addition, there is a certain pleasure in tracing the fine details of his brushwork and losing oneself in them.
Govinda has used both acrylic and oil for his abstract images. Technically, the two mediums don’t mix because acrylic is water-based. Water and oil repel each other and can create cracks on the painting in the long run. It is, however, not unusual for painters to use acrylic for a layer of under-painting, and then to go over it with oil after it dries.
“I work on thin wet layers of acrylic and oil with the help of a mixing medium,” says Govinda, who completed his Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Arts in London.
Process to Move aims to raise awareness about the stagnant art scene of Nepal and to encourage artists to move ahead; and one of obvious themes surrounding this stagnation is politics.
“Why? Why?? Why???” by Mukesh Shrestha, an art teacher at Tribhuvan University, and “On Dashain” by Dr. Jacqueline Taylor Basker, also a professor of art, are two mixed media paintings that focus on this theme.
Shrestha’s and Basker’s works are similar and different in many ways. Both works use newspaper cuttings of political news to create collages on the canvas, alongside using paint. It is rather ironic that Shrestha, a Nepali national, expresses his views of the US politics while Basker, an American citizen, puts across her thoughts on Nepal’s political situation.
Shrestha’s views and the symbolic references that he has used in his works are more explicit than Basker’s, and in some instances too clichéd. In his painting, the Statue of Liberty wears a white sari. Her face is painted black, and she glances at a figure to her left. The faceless figure in brown contains a reproduction of American artist Shepard Fairey’s screen print of President Obama.
“There’s no such rule that you can’t copy another artist’s work,” says Shrestha defensively. Fair enough. Artists worldwide refer to each other’s works and sometimes incorporate them in their own.
The symbolic Obama holds an ovoid red globe with the face of Osama bin Laden at its center. Obama cover his ears with a wireless headphone, and to top it off, he wears a circular armlet which reads ‘S’ in red and yellow.
“The ‘S’ represents Superman,” says the artist. Not only is the icon of Superman triangular, the overuse of too many symbols and blatant political texts in Shrestha’s “Why? Why?? Why???” makes too many assumptions of the subject matter, leaves little room for the viewer’s own interpretations, and lacks in the display of the artist’s technical skills.
On the other hand, Basker uses fairly minimal text, mostly headlines, which are painted over with numerous colors in reference to the festival of Dashain and Tihar. On top of the painting is a cutout of The Himlayan Times title, under which is a picture of Goddess Durga. She has decorated her work with colorful lights. On the floor is a piece of broken concrete with various patches of colors, which can have two meanings—first, a painter’s palette, and second, a tray used to hold separate colors during Tihar. Basker’s study on the local practices of Dashain and Tihar is admirable.
“The Mask” by Ahsu Ram Khaiju and “Garam Masala” by Sunita Rana, the only installation piece, are two other noteworthy works presented at the exhibition. Both works bring forward fresh ideas in terms of their concepts, compositions and presentations.
All in all, Process to Move is quite a stimulating corpus of works and is worth a visit. Whether it will inspire Nepali artists to move ahead is a subjective question.
The exhibition will remain till October 15.
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