Time Wheel

Popular artist Ragini Upadhyaya exhibits her paintings on the theme of 'time wheel'

By A CORRESPONDENT

Artists are more known for their creativeness and disinterestedness in the daily happenings unless of course when the events have a direct impact on them. They love to show abstractism and it seems in many cases art is for the sake of art.

However, Ragini Upadhyaya is a different character. Arts exhibited in her exhibitions make us feel that she is more of a journalist in canvas and color than a creator. She expresses the contemporary issues with the aid of brush and colors in various media.

In her latest exhibitions that opened at the Siddhartha Art Gallery on May 10, in addition to the current happenings she has included moments from history. The events in the past that has imparted long ranging effects have been captured. From the paintings of Rana period depicting such events as Kot Parba to the current happenings, Ragini has strongly tried to impart a message to the public that time is all powerful.

The exhibition titled "Samaya Chakra – the wheel and the whorls of time," portrays almost four dozen paintings including etchings, drawings and mixed media.

Inspired by the dictum "art should not be just for art sake, art should be for life," Ragini feels that she should make some difference in society by her art works.

Probably because many of her art works clearly impart the upheavals in the country and portray how the icons of power at different times have perished with time.

Whether it may be the clock ticking in the eyes of Kumari or the stupa of Swayambhu turned into a perpetually ticking clock, Ragini's works depict the power and importance of time.

Whether she may use animals like elephants, tortoises, horses, or historical monuments like Ghanta Ghar, Dharahara and Krishna Mandir, the paintings depict clearly the symbols expressing different faces of time.

As she says, truly, in the face of time everything is ephemeral. Even in the known short history of less than two decades we have seen how tens of icons of power have raised to the power and perished with time. "What one fails to understand when they are in power is that they will need to surrender to time one day," said Ragini.

The country is in need of more artists like Ragini who can portray the reality showing the way and inspiring the people that makes them live longer than their biological lives.