National 8 (Spotlight Weekly)

Images of Terai

An artist from the Mithila region exhibits the beauty of traditional Mithila art depicting the lifestyles of Terai

By THAKUR AMGAI

Suman's paintings : Rejoicing deities

Watching the paintings hung on the walls of Indigo art gallery from September 18 to October 3 is just as amazing as knowing how the artist made those paintings. The beauty of the paintings is there, but what is more fascinating is how he makes them. In the age of technology S.C. Suman paints with plant pigments as colors and bamboo stick as brush.

Indicating the difficulty in doing art with the natural pigments, the art teacher of Lincoln School, who was inaugurating the exhibition, said, "Mr. Suman is a man who works with the seasons." In the current world of technology where even the process in making the arts has become highly technical, traditional artists like S.C. Suman still resort to the bamboo brushes and natural color pigments such as juices of various leaves and flowers, fruits, glues, clay, cow dung, oil, milk, etc. In Suman's art, that is where the beauty lies. Due to the obvious difficulties, most of the people have gradually stopped making art this way. Suman has not just saved the culture of Mithila art, but has added extra colors to it by bringing it to the public.

In more than four-dozen of his paintings, Suman has depicted various facets of Mithila culture. The arts take the viewer to the villages of Terai. The arts show, in an artistic way, the daily activities in a terai village. Whether it may be the art of people dancing in spiral circles, or kids playing in circle, his paintings seem to interact very effectively with the viewers telling them what exactly takes place in the village.

The combination of forms and colors also seem to show what exactly they feel like. The arts show the scenery, feelings and activities. The use of fishes in many of his paintings shows the creature's importance in the lives of Terai community. The paintings of deities add variety to the exhibition. The poster art of Radha Krishna, among others, depict the faith the people have in gods.

Suman is not oblivious to the ongoing conflict in the country. In addition to the paintings depicting Mithila culture and typical lifestyles of the terai region, Suman has exhibited five paintings showing the desire for peace. After all the people of terai are no less affected by the country's ongoing conflict than anybody else.

The exhibition started on September 18 and will end on October 3 at Indigo Art Gallery. The painting includes images of deities, natural elements and village activities. The significant feature of the painting is its naturalness. The paintings are drawn on local paper by using natural pigments with natural bamboo brushes. Suman who learned the art of mithila painting from his grandmother during his childhood has endured the difficulties of using mineral color pigments such as juices of various leaves and flowers, fruits, glues, clay, cow dung, oil, milk, etc.

The creativity that Suman has blended in his paintings is very fascinating. The imaginary elements added to the realities of village life hold the viewers captivated. To Suman, who is fabric designer by profession, "sky is no limit," in creativity.

Suman has participated in many group exhibitions in the past. He has been active in the field since 1991 and has done a number of solo exhibitions also. He has also exhibited his art in foreign countries like France. Suman does sometimes do modern arts also, but he has specialized in Mithila art. This is the third exhibition of this veteran of Mithila art at the Indigo art gallery. Suman has won several prizes including the national award in 29th and 30th National Art and Craft Award.