National 9 (Spotlight Weekly)

Tale Of Tragedy

Prominent artist Shashikala Tiwari expresses her anguish over the tragic night at Narayanhity Royal Palace

By A CORESSPONDENT

People continue to express in different ways their grief and pain over the horror that descended on Narayanhity Royal Palace on the night of June 1, 2001. A year after they lost the entire family of a hugely popular monarch, the Nepalese people still cannot make sense of all that happened within those fateful moments.

Prominent artist Shashikala Tiwari has brought out her sense of anguish on canvas. Ketaki Chester, a royal relative who was injured in the palace incident, inaugurated an exhibition of Tiwari's paintings titled "From the Void: Bewildered Eyes".

By mixing the creativity of her thought with the power of her brush, Tiwari has embodied in her works the utter horror and disbelief the country has been living with. The paintings, displayed at the National Association of Fine Arts Hall in Naxal, also reflect her own abiding respect and reverence for the royal family members who perished on that night.

Describing a tragedy no one could have possibly imagined before it occurred is not an easy task. Admittedly, many would find it difficult to comprehend how a distressed mind could collaborate with hands wearied by pain to produce creative excellence. But that is what Tiwari has done. By blending her imagination with a multiplicity of colors, she has produced a visual equivalent of a gripping narrative. As usual, Tiwari's paintings are abstract. But they succeed in explaining the plain facts about that dreadful night and its excruciating aftermath.

Organized by Siddhartha Art Gallery, the exhibition offered a special opportunity for visitors to pay respects to a monarch - himself an accomplished painter - whose aspirations and actions were constantly guided by the welfare of the people and country.

Monsoon Moods

A group of artists express their spontaneous feelings about nature

By A CORRESSPONDENT

Over the past month, Siddhartha Art Gallery has organized several group exhibitions of works by Nepalese and foreign artists. The annual summer collection of paintings, entitled "Monsoon Moods", is the latest addition to what has become a warmly received initiative.

Featuring many renowned Nepalese and foreign artists, the exhibition, held at the Siddhartha Art Gallery at Babar Mahal, consists of paintings drawn before the dawn of summer.

The works of Batsa Gopal Vaidya, Shashi Shah, Shankar Raj Singh Suwal, Shashikala Tiwari, Kiran Manandhar, Ragini Upadhyay-Grela, Uma Shanker Shah, Seema Sharma, Shyam Lal Shrestha, Dagmar Mathes, Carol Irwin, Yuki Shirai, Amitabh Sen Gupta, Aditya Basak, Prakaash Chandwadkar, Parmeshwar Raja and Swaroop Mookerji provide a visual flavor of the season.

As the beautiful spring turns to rains, nature shifts its mood - which is what one can see in the paintings on display. Although various artists have used their own methods of explaining the transformation, the works on display have encapsulated the mood of the monsoon.

Clouds, darkness and rains indicate a mood that stands in sharp contrast to that of spring, when nature is full of beautiful flowers. The monsoon begins with torrential rain, washing all the blossoming flowers. The group-exhibition format has helped art lovers savor the works of eminent personalities in their full splendor at one venue.

A New Experience

At a time when galleries are packed with works by senior and eminent artists, new talent Brirkha Bahadur Gurung has endeavored to convey feelings of condolence through his paintings.

Gurung, who lost his parents at an early age, grew up at Nepal Children's Organization (NCO). Born in the western district of Jumla, Gurung was raised at the NCO under the patronage of the royal family.

Gurung has paid his respects to the royal family members through varied representations of creativity. His portraits of King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and other royal family members who died on the night of June 1, 2001 embody a deep sense of gratitude and reverence.

"I am very grateful to late King Birendra and other royal family, who helped me to learn something about art. Thousands of children, like myself, have lost their patron," said Gurung. Over the years, many children have been brought up at the NCO under the guidance of royal family members.