These days, Kathmandu’s artistic calender is busy enough to offer choices. This hasn’t always been the case, but now that its started and we’ve packed ourselves thick, it will probably only get busier. There are some who would believe that quantity is an essential to the birth of quality. A facebook events skirmish will reveal that the city is clearly not lacking in quantity anymore.
On Friday evening, two exhibitions – Troubadours: Poetry on the Move and Explorations in the Photographic Medium v. 1.5 – opened at around the same time in Image Ark Gallery, Patan and Bikalpa Art Center, Jhamsikhel, respectively. This reviewer happened to stumble upon the opening of the former and run into the latter during the course of the weekend.
Image Ark Gallery is a rather small space and is run by a communication and design company. Baroque tackiness was apparent in the opening event. In themselves, the performances – poetry, dance, and music, were enjoyable, although not exhilarating. The Word Warriors had a rather stale set of poems for one who regularly follows their events while the bebop and musical remix retained a unique flavour. Some of the poetry that was read was plain bad, reading more like a quickly scribbled journal entry with nothing but the words carrying it. No metaphor, no rhyme scheme, no deep set idea – pure verbosity. Others, especially from the Nepali language poets, had a richness of flavour and depth that gave an indication of Nepal’s poetic tradition. The din of Patan in the background was both a distraction and a complement to the words. An interpretive dance based on Madhav Prasad Ghimire’s poem was perhaps the most surprising and heartfelt. But the mixing of the medium and the collage-like composition gave the whole event a lack of cohesion. The event often meandered so far from poetry and travel that the linkages became tenuous.
Fittingly, the illustrious Kiran Manandhar came up with a masterpiece in under 10 minutes as the show kicked off. His work was set up in the front room and it tantalized the viewer with invitations to experience the inner motions of regurgitation. The usage of impure colours dabbed around certain structures that invite interpretation along with a complete disinterest in how colours interact with each other are the apparent hallmarks of Manandhar’s work. As one can clearly see below, the basic idea behind the painting appears to be mountains and doves representing our dreams of peace and harmony with nature. A powerful and moving work, indeed. The reasons for such an expression of genius while poetry was being recited? The breakdown of all narrative into incoherence, perhaps. Another piece from a fragmented opening.
Kiran Manandhar’s painting at Image Ark
The artworks themselves were all displayed on the first floor. It takes one less than 30 seconds to circle in and out. The proximity of walls really hampers one’s ability to view the artworks, while the artworks themselves are nothing to write home about. The idea held some promise – the visualization of a/the kernel of a poetic piece. Unfortunately, the execution displayed a feeble, scared attempt at really delving into the poetry. Its worth questioning why art, that has a medium, means and message of its own, was needed for the poetry – these poetic pieces, in particular. The exhibition exhibits little thought toward this.
If poetry is the lead in this, as it would appear from the way the exhibition is titled, do the artworks reflect the poetry? The simple answer is that they do, at a basic level, but the longer one spends time with the poetry, the less representative the art becomes. They mimic the words but not the essence. Take the photo collage (shown below) done on Nayan P. Sinduliya’s poem, Basantapur, which uses the poet’s own photography in a haphazard collage along with a printed text of the poem. It resembles the work of a poet asked to do artwork rather than an artist trying to interpret the poem. Fragments of the poem get reflected in the composition, but the state of mind and the meaning the palace square takes on in the poem remains largely absent from the work itself. The painting for Gaurab Subba’s Rainbow City shows a mental laziness that comes out in the lack of precision of the brushstrokes and attention to detail in the colour composition. The attempt at using the colours of the rainbow comes across as dishonest. Further, the standardized architectural symbols of Nepal are juxtaposed with a concrete urban landscape that is clearly too organized to be anything but Kathmandu. One cannot but think that the metaphors and poetic license used in the poem would encourage more expression from an artist with a bit more passion.
Collage based on Nayan P. Sindhuliya’s poem, Basantpur
Painting based on Gaurab Subba’s poem, Rainbow City
The next day, this reviewer took a walk around Bikalpa Art Center where its latest exhibition was on display. The exhibition showcased the work of seven artists currently enrolled in the Kathmandu University Center for Art and Design. It was the product of a semester-long elective on photography taught in conjunction with photo.circle.
Mining the rich vein of personal experience and the use of visual material in its interpretation, the exhibition is perhaps one of the most engaging works of photography to come out of the art school. The aesthetics and style of presentation of the exhibition betrayed a heavy influence and conceptual work on the part of photo.circle, but also was successful is bringing out some of the potential of the students of the art school.
A video installation by Amulya Shrestha reminded one of Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. Using photographs and the artist’s own memories, it captures his attempt at recollecting a past of which he hardly has any recollection. The rather eerie voiceover keeps the viewer engaged while the simple camera work, direct framing and light setup give it an air of nostalgia. An installation by Saran Tandukar of photographs pulled from facebook raised questions about the role of social media in the creation of memories. It also brought out the more sinister notion of the loss of privacy and the entry of the private into the public. Artists also furnished self-narratives and narratives of their homes. Such revelations of the private and the intimate come out the strongest in Sudeep Balla’s photo set and bottled collection.
An Installation from Explorations in the Photographic Medium v.1.5
The most telling difference between the Image Ark and Bikapla exhibits was the artistic intent behind the production. Troubadours worked with poets, but seems to have neglected the artists who were meant to bring out the visual aspect of the poetry. Explorations on the other hand worked with artists and in doing so was much more invested in the final artistic product. This perhaps defines the disparity between the two exhibitions.
Disappointment is a part of the artistic process and it perhaps reveals what lies ahead more than success. In that, the visual prospects that rise out of Kathmandu’s dirt appears to have the promise of quality mixed in with quantity.
