KATHMANDU: Artist Rashana Bajracharya, currently pursuing her MFA at Tribhuvan University, has painted a couple in traditional Newari attire — woman in black sari with red border, blouse and white shawl while the man is in daura suruwal, black waistcoat and black Nepali cap. The man is playing a flute while the shy woman is listening to the tune sitting beside him. This painting ‘Matina’ conveys a direct emotion of love to any visitor at the 9th Park Art Fair 2015 that began on December 3 at Park Gallery, Pulchowk.

Senior artist Surendra Pradhan, using cubism, has also painted a couple on his canvas in vibrant colours like red, blue, yellow and more. This year there are 33 Nepali artists participating in the fair and one from Germany.

Most artists — Aditya Aryal, Ishan Pariyar, Sabita Dongol, Muna Bhadel and others — have explored emotions like love, hope, happiness, appreciation, sadness and despair. Other artists including Nabin Nalbo, Devendra Thumkeli, Keshav Raj Khanal, Anita Khanal, Ganesh GC, Bijaya Maharjan have depicted the lifestyle, natural beauty, culture, urbanisation and religion in their works.

Using mixed media Rabindra K Shrestha has created ‘The God of Teeth’. In this work you can see the installation work — 10 paisa and five paisa coins are nailed on a wooden board. Here, the artist has tried to depict the age-old Nepali tradition of nailing coins on to the wooden surface at Bange Mudha, Wanshya Dyo (Teeth God) with a belief that doing so will help people recover from toothache — which he finds, is the amalgamation of art and culture.

Talking about the art fair, Bijaya Maharjan, Coordinator of the fair expressed, “Park Gallery has been organising this fair since 2007 and its aim is to encourage artists as well as give a chance to exhibit their work. The fair is a place where senior and new artists’ works are showcased on the same platform and one can get the idea of art scene.”

The exhibition continues till December 6.