BINOD PRADHAN - June 2012 - Siddhartha Art Gallery

I
have known Binod since he was a student at the Lalitkala Academy. Over the last twenty years
I have had the privilege of observing his evolution as an artist. He has participated in several
exhibitions and projects organized by the Siddhartha Art Gallery. In February 2006 he held a solo
exhibition of his work at the Siddhartha which proved to be a very memorable one as it coincided with
period of great political upheaval in the nation. His third solo show at the Siddhartha is titled “Collision.”
Though the works are devoid of politics in content, and is based on the subject of global warming and
climate change - we are strangely yet again at a critical juncture of political transition in Nepal.
In 2009, his experimentation with colour was to lead to a series of surreal cityscapes suffused with an
explosion of rainbow colours. Binod’s current series is a definite departure from the local cityscapes
and Buddhist monuments. However his work has not drifted far from Hindu-Buddhist philosophy which
propagates the idea of a kaliyug where human greed leads to wars and the annihilation of the world as
we know it. This collision of human greed and nature is the subject of Binod’s new work. Recent climate
change and global warming concerns are viewed as part and parcel of this collision. As a concerned
global citizen, the artist composes landscapes of doom from his imaginaire. An incandescent palette
captures a world at an apocalyptic precipice: rivers of glacial ice swallow up settlements, the sea is
overturned, aquatic life is terminated, forests are plundered, human greed renders the air noxious and
a mutant race is born. Even the divine hand, a repeated image in his works, is stunted here. And yet
somehow the bizarre and blighted conditions fail to be threatening due to the heady play of colours.
However it is important that we take note of the prophetic scenarios presented before us as Nepal is
listed as one of the most vulnerable countries that will be impacted by climate change. It is therefore
befitting that this exhibition is being held on Environment Day.
It will be interesting to see what Binod does next, one thing is for certain, the storm in his canvases are
a contradiction to otherwise the calm demeanour of this artist, my long time friend. .
Sangeeta Thapa
Director
Siddhartha Art Gallery
June 5th, 2012
Acknowledgements
Kasthamandap Art Studio (family) , Earts Nepal, Susan Shrestha,
Cabinet Shrestha, Sangeeta Thapa, Dr. Sanjeev Uprety,
Tulshi Joshi, Friends and Pradhan Family Life is water 36 x 36 in I Acrylic on Canvas