Gods & heroes
KATHMANDU, AUG 21 – The Rise of the Collateral, a new series of paintings by Manish Harijan is set to go on exhibit at the Siddartha Art Gallery, Babarmahal, from today. A recipient of the KCAC’s Margaret Washington Memorial Scholarship Award, the artist is a graduate of the Kathmandu University’s Centre for Art and Design. The 11 paintings that will be displayed at the gallery till September 20 have all been created during the artist’s eight-month KCAC residency.
The paintings in Harijan’s collection bring together ‘gods’ and ‘superheroes’ onto a single canvas. Ancient characters from eastern mythology find themselves merged with recognisable comic book heroes that have pervaded contemporary popular culture. Perhaps both gods and superheroes find shared meaning in their roles as protectors and upholders of the greater good on Harijan’s canvases.
Art curator Sangeeta Thapa notes that pop art is being “re-contextualised in the contemporary art scene in Nepal by artists such Sujan Chitrakar, Laxman Karmacharya and Sudeep Balla.” Harijan’s paintings follow this trend in a sense, she says, as the artist “paints his superheroes as super pop gods.”
Harijan himself says, “Superheroes espouse the philosophy of most religions: Do not kill. Do not steal,” as he prompts viewers to explore the similarities between gods and superheroes through the artwork.
Although starkly dissimilar in style and form from the paintings that were part of his previous exhibition, PI, the works of art that comprise the exhibition—to be officially inaugurated at 5:30 pm today by director of the British Council in Nepal, Dr Robert Monroe—all bear what Thapa calls the ‘hallmark’ of the artist’s works: “the merging of cultures, the parody of globalisation and a satirical take on society at large.” She also says that noting how viewers accept these “bold works packed with so much punch, will be an interesting exercise in itself.”
