NATIONAL 9 (Spotlight Weelky)]

WOON'N'MOTION

A Human Touch

20 sculptures and 16 paintings speaking a spiritual language will go on display at Patan Museum

BY AKSHAY SHARMA

The sculptures of Beate Neumann speak a higher spiritual language but provide aesthetic pleasure even to those without a background in spirituality. Nearly all her works are made of wood, often using roots, branches and complete trunks, that range from 2 cm to 20 cm in height. The sculptures have an air of lightness and easy movement. And that is the main theme of the exhibition -- Wood 'n' Motion. Neumann's second solo exhibition opens on Saturday, November 18 at Patan Museum. Her first was held at J- Art gallery in October last year.

This time she focuses mainly on sculptures. Twenty sculptures and 16 paintings, all new works completed in a year, will go on display. A video presentation showing her at work will accompany the exhibition.

Talking to reporters at her home on November 12 Neumann, gave a preview of what to expect.

"Growing up in Europe, I saw so much art and was influenced by many works. I remember, when I was 13, pouring plaster into a box trying to make something

out of it. I wanted to study art 30 years ago but went to medical school instead because of the notion that it would be an economically wiser decision," remembers Neumann.

Sculpture and painting fit perfectly with her professional medical background. "To me it is meditative and healing," she adds.

"When I was a child, my Grandma used to tell me stories of White Ladies (healers). That must have been my initiation towards spiritualism. Reiki does surprising things with people having physical and emotional problems who come to her for medical advice.

"In my sculptures I chose trees because they collect the energy the universe gives to the world and which in turn gives it back to the trees. This process doesn't stop. And the tree continues to live after even if it is cut," she says.

"These paintings are not abstract, they are the inner reality. I paint on Nepali paper and apply liquid wax. Then I put it in the refrigerator and add more colors as the wax cracks. I then iron it. If I'm not satisfied with the process, I go through it all over again to enhance it," Neumann says.

Neumann sometimes buys wood for her sculptures. "When we were in Sauraha," her husband remembers, I wanted to buy her a piece of wood from a tree that had just been cut. I approached the forestry officials and they said I had to buy the whole tree."

In most of her paintings, she uses elaborated batik technique on Lokta paper that produces the illusion of wood print. Her topics are often simplistic, using eyes, birds or mantra. With her choice of colors, the effect is warm and positive.

She uses Nepali paper "because it does not tear and you can do many things that is not possible with other papers."

Her admirers are amazed by the effort she puts in. "You usually see her working all covered with sawdust," says Rajen Gurung, an information systems and public relations expert working for GTZ. "Her dedication to her work is inspiring."

Through the exhibition, Neumann hopes to create awareness among art lovers that wood is still full of energy after its active life. "When I put my hand on people, I see chakras and colors," says Neumann, describing her belief in the Reiki style of healing.

She says she has seen a lot of good Nepali artists. "But because the market here is so small, artists barely can live off it as a profession."

Neumann was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1950 went on to study medicine at the University of Bonn and Lubeck. Since 1976 she has worked as a medical doctor in hospitals in Germany and Tanzania.

In 1994 she moved to Kathmandu and trained as Reiki practitioner. The following year she studied alternative medicine. In 1996 she received her Reiki masters degree.

She has been sculpting and painting since 1970, intensifying her art from Nepal. It was in 1998 that she started with energy-related paintings and sculptures.

"As a sculptor and a painter, I am looking beyond what is before us. I try to look at things through the 'third eye' and sometimes through dreams."

"Anything in our surroundings which pleases us -- be it a person, nature or art -- helps us to gain balance and supplies energy to heal," she says. "I hope art lovers will feel these healing energies."