Date of publication: 25-03-2013
The Siddhartha Art Gallery in Kathmandu is hosting the return of two basic page print makers who have been away from galleries for far too long
Saturday morning, and in a house in the foothills of the Swayambhunath, Kathmandu residents secretly working away, a great return. Dr. Seema Sharma Shah and Uma Shankar Shah are planning their new exhibition, seven years after their last shows in Nepal. "When our son was younger, we traded roles between the exhibiting artist and the older," explains Uma Shankar. "But now that he is older, it is much easier."
It has been over ten years since his life and make art in Chhauni Shahs in the capital city of Nepal, where they have set up a studio. This full-time parents and professors are busy all year round and have missed out on Nepali galleries, but their absence is rather excused by the progress they have made in India.
Expressions of devotion not only sees the return of these two basic page print makers to town Siddhartha Art Gallery this month, but also another special occasion will mark: it is the first time the pair will be on display together and only in the same room.
The two met at the Banaras Hindu University in India, and affter to Nepal in the 90 's and churning out extraordinary work, the Shahs can now be said for the canon of Nepali prints, along with artist Raghini Upadhayay. They have together, ingenious methods used in creating unique print to soften the value of their work. "There was a tradition of destroying a plate to create more value, but we started to print add it manually to make it singular" says Uma Shankar, whose new works have been retouched and/or layered with screen-prints. Seema is the same stencils decoration added to her prints. And in addition to the technique, there are other qualities that their two collections share.
Although working with different topics-the ' Ramayana ' and ' Avatar'-thematically, the individual series compliment each other. "Postmodernism has seen many artist back back to and identify with their roots," a sense both artists repeatedly as the new direction for art expression.
In the time spent away from Nepali galleries, Uma Shankar as soon as colorful and surreal cityscapes, for example, have been replaced by figures and stories from the Hindu epics, much closer to the figurative work of his partner. With the Ramayana explores the artist the Kingdom Maithili for inspiration. Born in the South and historically significant city of Janakpur itself, has he pulled out enough space in his compositions to include a wealth of traditional motifs. But there are also a few prints in which influences from Kathmandu frame are. ' Santiyagya ', whose namesake paintings are rather exhibited by the artist, make a reappearance as printing-with a Maithili ' taste '-as the artist calls it. "When I made the oil paintings that symbolize the need for peace in Kathmandu; now I have work replicated because we need peace in the South, "says Uma Shankar. And similar reasons has led the artist to choose the Hindu epic Ramayana as a basis for his current work: "[characters in the Ramayana] represent the visceral fight inside of each man, the good and bad aspects that is present in all of us."
The Seema series, Avatar, in the same regard, is also wrapped around the possibilities of representation, but the emphasis is on multiple gods, including Ram. Her figurative strengths are obvious at first sight in the eight different types of the Hindu deity Ganesha, or the nine incarnations of Durga who is part of the collection, among other things, and there's a familiar about the series that results from her work of the last ten years. Seema the pieces take heavy influences from Kathmandu, which has been downplayed at the Uma Shankar collection.
With extensive research (a video installation will detail these sources) and travel, these two artists have a strong collection of panoramic prints made. Feelings of dedication are apparent in the topic, the extent and complexity of the duo work. Most important of all, their temporary absence from the Nepali scene has created a level of excitement about their work that can be filled at last.
Expressions of devotion will be exhibited until April 17th.
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