Kathmandu:

When one comes to know of the Korean artist ‘Artist Jo’, a name she has chosen for herself, one is curious as to why she has chosen the name. “‘Jo’ means bird in Korean language,” she replies. “And I see bird as a symbol of happiness.”

Artist Jo’s paintings are being exhibited at the New Orleans Café, Thamel, from December 14.

Her paintings are mostly done in ink and watercolour, while in some she has used wood with oil colours. She dwells on the concept of love, happiness and ‘Namaste’, which hold a lot of meaning for her.

Artist Jo mostly uses softer hues, which is inline with her overall concept. She has framed all her paintings in simple and attractive way. In one of her paintings, a lotus emerges from the head of a pink-faced man, and on top of it stands a bird. “The man is in the meditation-like state,” says the 34-year-old artist, “And the flower is emerging out of love.”

She has also composed poems to explain few of her paintings, like ‘Listen Attentively’. In the painting she shows ears of two people elongated to join each other, as if both people were trying to listen to each other’s heart.

“For love and happiness, you need to be able to listen to others,” Jo explains. There is another painting, where she requests people to love others whole-heartedly. “I want everyone to be happy,” she says. The exhibition is on till December 18.