KATHMANDU:

If you have any old newspapers, fabric or jute lying around the house, give it to artist Gaurav Shrestha, he will make colourful creations out of them.

Known to give meanings to useless materials, this time Shrestha has fused music to plastic jute with acrylic paint. He unveiled his fifth solo collage-painting exhibition called Musical Reflections on March 10 at the Yala Maya Kendra.

Since the theme is music, the opening of the exhibition opened with a flute performance and statements by cultural dignitaries like Satya Mohan Joshi.

Shrestha said he picked plastic jute because he wanted to work with something new and liked the texture of the material.

“I really wanted to do innovative work,” said Shrestha. “Creating collages gives me the freedom to express myself in a uniquely different manner.”

This music-themed collage collection is made with fabric, jute and various papers (in some instances you can actually read the newspaper articles in the paintings). He said collage type

of art is not popular at among artists in Nepal. He hopes other artists will follow suit, as it’s a completely different medium and very freeing.

Before discovering painting, Shrestha’s passion was music. He said that passion never went away even after being diverted by his painting career. This time he combined the two passions in this collection. All the paintings such as Tunes of Romance, Jamming, Symphony of the East, portray music in its abstract form.

“Sometimes I used to listen to music while painting, sometimes it’s the inner music (on the canvas),” said Shrestha.

The exhibition is on till March 14