Kathmandu:

If you want have a feel of fine Mithila Art, then your destination has to be Siddhartha Art Gallery. Inaugurated on December 7 by country director of World Food Programme Richard Ragan, the exhibition entitled ‘The Mithila Cosmos’ has over 35 impressive paintings of SC Suman.

A student of science from Biratnagar, Suman says he got his flair for art from his grandmother. The genre of Mithila painting, practiced in parts of Nepal’s Tarai and India, traditionally falls under the domain of women. The figures in the paintings are representative in their nature and the paintings are usually compressed.

Suman’s paintings are fine, he seemingly gives his best in every work. He has also explored a number of themes, mainly religion, love, and Tarai culture. His religious influence is very strong in many of his paintings. He has used natural pigment, mixed media and acrylic on silk.

One of his paintings that easily catches your attention is ‘The Kobar Ghar — the Nuptial Room’ where unlike other paintings he explicitly displays erotic activities. He explains, “When young boy and girl is married, their Kobar house, where they spend their first night, has these types of paintings to give them sexual education. So you see, we had the concept of sexual education long before the western-type sexual education.”

The exhibition is on till January 6.