Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu

We used to measure our years by the Dashains we lived through and the festivals that added colour to our lives. Now, we measure our days by the increasing violence and mounting agitation. We search for peace but the search has become so long drawn and confusing we do not where to look. Is it hiding behind the eyes of the Buddha that weep tearlessly? At the exhibition ‘Infinity’s Journey’ at Park Gallery, Lazimpat, four young artists come together for the third time to explore their creativity and recreate into art the phases that the world is going through. Binod K Gupta uses surrealism to compose works that mesh traditionalist values with urgency for peace. 'We find colours deep within ourselves,' says Binod who signs ‘Madhu’ on his artworks. 'I think I can make an impact by imparting a message with each painting. In watercolour, you need transparency and I usually have a lot of yellows in my work.'

Yellow is the colour of delight, a contradictory medium for his subject of expression perhaps but yellow lends a brighter shadow as we travel to Suman’s works. The swirls of his brush spray a festive air in the paintings. They swirl to bind subjects together but could the picture beyond be the true façade? 'I love to experiment, I like the style,' says Suman. Style is essential if one is to stand out from the rest and Gaurav Shrestha achieves this with his uniqueness. He paints on collage compositions of landscape. Bits of coloured papers stick together to become the twinkling lights of Kathmandu city at dusk or the flaming landscape of Pokhara from Sarangkot. Gaurav goes beyond putting together the picture of the ‘Sunrise’ and ‘Moonrise’ to juxtapose a beautiful almost Pollock-like work titled ‘Moon and Sunset Cloud’.

As the scenery of the canvases change, the ringing tones of the bells vibrate in Ramesh KC’s works. These are similar to Manish Lal Shrestha’s theme of expression. Ramesh’s paintings are rather dark and he shares that he likes the contrast that comes through very clearly. He likes working with texture and believes that the bells caught in stillness on canvas will tell people that even symbols of peace have come to a meditative standstill. In the darkness, there remains this unspoken question mark that vibrate with the ringing tones as their journey continues to infinity. The exhibition continues till June 15.