I am always searching for new dimensions. My paintings always explore something new. I am a perpetual beginner

Kathmandu:

Even the strongest dictates of his parents could not fetter this maverick of an artist from leaving his hometown to pursue his passion for painting. The hunger pangs and sweltering heat of Mumbai could not deter him from learning and expressing what came to his mind. Laxman Shrestha, a renowned artist based in Mumbai, is in his hometown Kathmandu again after a gap of 40 years, to exhibit some of his works.

Winning an international art competition with ‘My village’ in Paris at the age of 24 in 1966 (this earned him Gorkha Dakshin Bahu I), Shrestha has come a long way in his 45-year-old romance with art. Starting from scratch, Shrestha is today invited to grace cocktail and dinner parties almost every day throughout the year.

“I liked to paint from childhood. I liked to travel and open my mind to various things. And when I realised that my dream would not materialise at home, I had no option but to run away,” says Shrestha, whose desire to be in the open is also reflected in his paintings. He studied art at the JJ School of Art. “I discovered my individuality in France after I got to know so much about the previous trends in art there,” he reflects.

From figurative to abstract, Shrestha says he never likes to stick to anything. “I am always searching for new dimensions. My paintings always explore something new. I am a perpetual beginner,” says Shrestha, adding that he is highly inspired by the Himalayas.

“There are mountains the world over, but hardly any of them have the spiritual feel of the majestic Himalayas. And being born in Nepal, I guess, I have been lucky to have this spiritual side in me too.”

So why doesn’t this person who still prides himself on being a Nepali stay in Nepal?

“I can’t be fixated to one place,” he says seemingly clear about his intentions. “But above all I didn’t get the right kind of environment and circle of friends in Nepal to develop myself as an artist. So I moved out.”

Shrestha has held exhibitions in many countries over the world and says he “knows every nook and cranny of France”.

“There are some really very good artists in Nepal. And I regularly suggest them to move out to gain more exposure. After all, painters need to travel a lot to know what is happening outside their sphere of action. They also need to ask questions and keep searching for answers. And in the process keep making their own rules, with time coming closer and closer to the ‘truth’,” says the artist who also is ready to support the Nepali artist trying to gain more exposure in whatever way he can. “Nepali artists need to understand the needs of globalisation.”

“I am a voracious reader, a connoisseur of food, an art movie buff, and I love theatre,” says Shrestha of his other hobbies.

Now he is looking forward to his exhibition of paintings at the Siddhartha Art Gallery from March 15-22, which is being organised by Infinity International.