Walking down the corridors of Sita Bhawan where the National Association of Fine Arts (NAFA) resides is always a nostalgic & a pleasant feeling. Nostalgic because it’s an old castle built by Bhim Samasher Rana during the Rana regime, & feels I have seen it built right in front of my eyes, logically which is impossible & sounds rubbish, but the huge iron gate, the open grassland scenery& as we enter the doorway of the mansion, the mighty stairs, old colors on the walls & the wooden floored rooms profoundly whisper to me that we have met in its juvenile days. And it feels pleasant perhaps because it’s always wonderful to have such mysterious feelings which surround us & tell us the story of our unbound existence. With such perplexing feelings I explored the rooms of Nafa gallery on the 26th of Dec 2002, because that day saw the 33rd national art & craft exhibition marking the 58th birth anniversary of the beloved late king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

The walls were decorated with paintings of vivid variations & the rooms exalted by various big & small sculptures. The art event was categorized into three different divisions according to the nature of the artworks i.e. - the traditional art works, the contemporary artworks & the craftworks. The room where the traditional artworks were displayed gave the glimpse of the ancient Nepal, & suggested many things of great value. The immortal knowledge of art Nepal shared with Southeast Asia in the ancient era, through painting (Thangka, scroll painting etc.) & sculptures projected the philosophical & religious ideas which still combine the social structure of Nepal. Thangka or better known as Pauva is a traditional art which not only portrays the wisdom of Buddha & the Hindu gods & goddesses but also carries a ritual or supernatural manifestations through minute detailing of lines & colors. It usually represents the main deities in the centre surrounded by other divinities. One of the main components of thangka is a mandala which is a device (Yantra) which helps to concentrate in the inner spiritual world in order to achieve self consciousness, consequently attaining clear understanding & insight towards reality. Mandala is tantric in essence & thus believed to carry magical features. A highly sophisticated art depicted through geometrical forms carrying a message of abstract reality. Wheel of life is the other facet of thangka which represents the meditative life of Buddha in order to get released from suffering of worldly existence. Thangka is painted on coarse cotton with home made color & stretched on a wooden frame. Thangka can also be iconic in characteristics, unlike the mandala type & feature a deity or deities with simple design on the vacant area. This traditional art came into existence around 13th century AD through scriptures, paintings on leaf of palm & birch tree & scroll painting. And the metal & clay sculptures have its own metamorphic & idealistic tale to acknowledge. As the verified record the history of sculpture stretches back as far as the era of the Lichchavis. The sculptures were widely of religious motifs, gods & goddesses having many hands & legs symbolizing different mood of expressions, i.e. - blessing, anger, affection etc. The Malla regime even heightened the architectural & sculptural innovation of Nepal. And all these development of creativity can be witnessed in the traditional arts department in the national exhibition. 108 Lokeshwore by sundar bajracharya, Hei Vajra Mandal by Lok chtrakar, Shri Yantra Mandal by Nuchhe Kaji Bajracharya, Shakti by Udaya Charan Shrestha, Chakra sambar Mandal by Sundar Sinkhwal & Achhyuva Mandal by Bikash Shakya in black stone, are some of the elegant works amongst all the authentic Nepalese traditional artworks.

Abstraction was already in the air, even in the ancient days. The philosophic perspective perceiving the mechanism of life & the sentiments which interprets with them can only be comprehended through an abstract sensibility. Although to make it more understandable it takes a visual epidermis, & certain approach of simplification & speed in its technical execution, which came about only in the early 20th century. The abstract reality was explored to attain spirituality through religious practices, & traditional art was one of them which usually signified the elements of life – birth, death, life & desires in life which was depicted through symbols & understood through abstract comprehension. This was the case in the western sphere also as religious philosophies motivated life & attempted to unfold the abstract reality of existence. As time stood in the high renaissance & baroque age during 16th &17th century, the will to grasp the metaphysical side of the nature was intensely increasing, as artists like Caravaggio, Rembrandt, El Greco, Vermeer penetrated within the surface of reality of sensation to figure the inner world of imaginative reality. They painted what was then common subjects- figure with intriguing draperies, historical events & portraits, but the object depicted with the supplementary background was given remarkably a dramatic appearance that it provoked a certain deep poetic fervor. The entire levels of reality transcended into an intellectual ambiance & as the inner sense of abstract understanding started interpreting, the transcended sensibility aroused into a mystery; the kind of feeling which surrounds us & tells the story of our unbound existence. An attempt to go beyond the complexities of thoughtfulness & perceive the mechanism of life through a simple mode would define the contemporary idea of the aesthetic conception, & it was slowly taking an obvious shape even back then. Now coming back in the present, & visualizing the paintings displayed in the national exhibition by Buddhi Thapa – Creation-I & II, the artist not only has used technically an abstract approach to achieve his imaginative sensibility, but the subject he undertakes- creation itself is something of an abstract entity. Applying black on the canvas the artist stimulates timelessness & by arranging geometrical figures & the third eye he intends to depict the range of creation & creation respectively. Quite different is the work of Pramila Bajracharya as she depicts narrow alleys of Kathmandu valley in her painting- ‘passing through-II’. Though her color application defines abstraction, the theme is rather figurative. The red color on the dull bluish grey intensifies the whole prospect. The excitement of the mental state the artist intends to awake aggravates the instinctual behavior of spectators. Picasso once stated- ‘there is no abstract art you must always start with something, afterwards you can remove all the traces of reality.’ Abstract veracity expands up to the mind, & as the mind opens its valve of senses, the nature which is full of existence starts giving the insights toward reality. And this conjunction of inner & outer world can be elaborately comprehended through a simple mode of sensibility & from here abstraction originates. We feel the similar thought waves as we visualize the artworks of Puran Khadka entitled timeless treat. The artist depicts the movement of the unknown & the whole existence animates in this unending motion. These are the artworks of the three experienced artists, as the national exhibition introduced the works of 217 artists in the contemporary division. As we walk in the 3rd department of the exhibition, we meet the 44 craftworks by 31 artists; of which most of them highlighted the cultural trademark of Nepal. Shyamsunder Yadav painted a Mithila entitled Grihalaxmi, stone image of Vishworoop by Bibhushan Tamrakar, musical instruments by Raju Chitrakar were the few works amongst all the fine craftworks. The bone structure of rabbit was quite unusual by Dhruba Prajapati. The national exhibition featured 437 artworks by 296 artists of the country.

This exploration of mine thus came to an end & as I walked away from the Nafa gallery I wondered how forms & colors effect & control the physical & mental state human existence. Discovering the ancient art of life & fusing the contemporary ideas, amalgamation of past & present, the exhibition conveyed the story perhaps never told before. And this shade of art now I take off from my eyes & thus there remain nothing but plain nature, no conception of colors, & ideas of forms & figures; perhaps from this point art rejuvenates again. And men of science & arts try to signify those signs whispered to us by the unexplored part of nature, those mysterious episodes which surround us & tell us the story of our own unbound existence… & thus the search continues on canvas, papers, on metal & clay, & on almost everything which defines the perspective of art.