Art in the public

Suprima Rai
DEC 20 – Inaugurated by band members of 1974 AD and Manisha Koirala, Sujan Chitrakar’s collaborative solo from the series ‘ARTivities’ has been on exhibit at the Siddhartha Art Gallery since Friday. A union of ‘art’ and ‘activities’, ARTivities intended its audience to talk about art. The audience definitely spoke about Chitrakar’s work as his signature ‘bubble speech’ and the poster edges really seemed to astound them. The exhibition brings together paintings from national and international artists within Chitrakar’s work, which deliberates his dedication in developing a new generation of art practitioners.

His painting titled Art is in the air shows a night lit street in Kathmandu with Shashi Shah’s Frightened Monk and Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night on display in advertisement boards. The immensely darkened background stands in contrast to the two paintings that pop out to make a point: people should talk about art as people talk about advertisements on the billboards. These boards are omnipresent in Kathmandu and the piece suggests that art, and not advertisement, should dominate our city’s facade. Sujan Chitrakar’s suggestion to push art into public spaces has a simple effectiveness that deserves applause. His attempt to mock the presence of advertisement boards should not go unnoticed.
Chitrakar thinks that a public discourse on art has been missing and hence art has been widely misunderstood. His painting Kalatantra Jindabaad is deeply meaningful for Nepalis with its copy of the iconic photo from the Jana Andolan showing the public shouting for its right. Chitrakar symbolises the importance of “artocracy” with “Kalatantra Jindabaad” written inside an oval white box in dark red.
Every painting by Chitrakar has a pleasing composition and perspective. His paintings are not completely detailed but are still representational, which gives a certain twist to his ideas. Most of his paintings are in black and white and when
he uses colours, he does so effectively. In the painting ART is in the air II, Chitrakar shows a panoramic view of Singh Durbar which includes Ason, Thapathali,
Maankal Sankata, Singh Durbar, Basantapur and other popular Nepali streets, painted effectively with his choice of colours. An undeniable trait in his work is the “Nepalipan” which is apparent due to the warmth they exude.

Sujan Chitrakar’s exhibition, Let’s talk about Art baby!, will continue till Jan.27 at the Siddhartha Art Gallery in Babar Mahal.
(The Kathmandu Post)