Explosion of creativity
Krita Raut
KATHMANDU: Creativity knows no boundary and it can manifest in any form using any medium. The ceramic and terra cotta works on display at the Siddhartha Art Gallery since June 23 brings to life the above statement.
Those who picturise abstract sculptures when they hear ceramic work are in for a surprise. This collection that came out of a workshop initiated by senior ceramic artist Kalapremi Shrestha is true to the title of the exhibition ‘Expressions in Clay’.
Swosti Rajbhandari’s ‘Divided Soul’ consists of small barks of trees on a table while leaves are hung from the ceiling right above the table. You cannot help but agree there can be no better way to project the pain of souls being torn apart than this.
And this medium is not just about abstract expressions; a look at the masks by Shreejana Shakya proves this. Hung on the walls on a small piece of carpet, these masks are not just artistically interesting for each project strong emotions.
Furthermore participants have not just focused on the subject of their theme for there are pieces that express the versatility of this medium itself. Who would have thought of puppets made of ceramics? You don’t have to imagine for Nhooja Tuladhar has hung them on the ceiling of the third floor of the gallery. With titles like ‘It’s Alive! It’s Alive’ and ‘Make me Dance!!’, you see blocks of ceramics tied together with rope and hung in different postures.
“I feel like a puppet sometimes. And we mostly see wooden puppets or those traditional puppets of Lakhey, made of clothes and wood. So I thought why not a puppet of ceramics?”explained Tuladhar.
Then there are Bio Mechanic Cups presenting modern imaginations in art.
At the same time you will also view a traditional ceramic work — the oriental blue and white ceramic ware — but with a little twist. In Aayusha Shrestha’s ‘Tomorrow’s Today’, there are a number of broken bottles kept on a rack. Each bottle in white has drawings in blue doneby children. Tuladhar informed that Shrestha actually asked school children to draw their vision of the world today and the drawings are their expressions of the situationwe are facing today. Thereare mobile sculptures ondisplay as well.Keeping an eye on theseceramic works are the huge portraits of labourers of Kathmandu done by Man Bahadur Harijan. As a part of his BFA solo exhibition, Harijan has simply captured street hawkers and brick factory workers who have come to Kathmandu from far flung places of Nepal.
Done in bright colours, Harijan says that this is an attempt on his part to “present the situation of these marginalised people for whom digital development means nothing as it hasn’t brought any difference to the struggle in their life”.
The way Harijan has added texture to the face and hands of these people speaks of the struggle they go through every day for two square meals. And the other significant part
of these portraits is the clothes these people are wearing. “I feel that the clothes they wear reflect their desire and also the amount of effect being in urban place has had on them,” shared Harijan pointing to a portrait of a man dressed in tee-shirt and a hat and another one in Nepali attire.
The exhibition is on till July 23.
(The Himalayan Times)
