First solo exhibition of artist KP Shah running at NAFA

After persevering in the art field for more than a decade, promising young artist Krishna Prakash Shah has finally come up with his first solo painting exhibition titled ‘The Real Salvation’ which is currently running at the National Association of Fine Arts (NAFA) at Sita Bhawan (Bal Mandir), Naxal to a large number of art enthusiasts.

“This exhibition is fruit of a decade long search for my own salvation through my paintings,” the talented artist said when asked to comment about his maiden exhibition.

It is quite apparent as the collection of paintings on display at the exhibition shows that the artist has keenly observed, while still remaining detached, the events and happenings that have transpired in the country, and showed an artist’s perception and his response to it.

His paintings also vividly mirrors the conflict between opposing forces through a sensible use of contrasting hues of red, yellow and blue. In this way, the artist has depicted a grim reality that surrounds the common citizen. But this doesn’t mean that his paintings are pessimistic. Quite the opposite, by showing us the terrible chaos and conflict in a poignant manner through clever use of colors and masterful brush strokes – something the artist remains occupied in most of his paintings – we are shown “what is” or the truth, not the ideal version of “what should be” or fantasy.

“Some paintings and pictures are very attractive and meaningful. I hope and believe that he will certainly achieve the kind of success to join the line of first grade artists of his generation,” said renowned artist Sashi Shah after attending the exhibition.

Quite impressed by the paintings on display at the exhibition, Govinda Dangol, chief of Fine Art Campus said, “As an artist, Krishna has chosen to dedicate one full decade to express his feelings through the color and canvas. Hence the end result is astonishing as we find in the paintings vividly unfolding his feelings in rich and matured compositions. His technical competence is also praise worthy.”

Echoing Dangol’s view, famous artist Kiran Manandhar said, “I feel there is maturity in his style of working and the use of acrylic color on canvas is worth praising. When I observed his strokes creates by the brushes, I felt the strokes and colors are heading towards peace and serenity, which is commendably executed by the artist.”

In summing up, artist Shah says about his creation, “In my paintings and pictures, black is the symbol of darkness, or ignorance, whereas white is enlightenment which gives more priority to the search of knowledge. This is to bolster the idea that only knowledge or enlightenment can clear up our sinister ideas and views leading us to reach our destiny, which is in fact the real salvation.”

This way artist Shah’s paintings must be thought very optimistic, as only by understanding our real self, which the paintings encourages in us, can we hope for real salvation for ourselves.

The exhibition will remain open till 17th Oct. nepalnews.com ag Oct 16 07