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NEWS & HAPPENINGS
36TH NATIONAL ART & CRAFT EXHIBITION 2062
The 36 th National Arts and Craft
Exhibition organized by the Nepal
Association of Fine Arts (NAFA) was
participated in by 161 artists in
Contemporary Painting, 23 sculptors in
Contemporary Sculpture, 48 artists in
Traditional Arts and 44 craftsmen and
women in Craft division. Besides this,
works of 43 artists were exhibited in the
Non-Competing department.
In Contemporary Painting,
Asha Dangol’s ‘Tantrik
Prem’ won first prize with
And while Kirti’s work is to be appreciated
for clean paraphrasing of complex forms,
Jasmin’s work displays a definite maturity
and style. Gautam R Tuladhar’s ‘Everyday
Prayer’ and Roshan
Pradhan’s ‘Feelings of 2005
second, to Sundar Sinkhwal’s ’21 Tara’, and
third to Devendra Sinkhwal’s ‘Bajra Jogini’.
Special prizes went to Bijaya S Jyapoo’s
‘Buddha’ and Kunchhang Lama’s
‘Buddha Jivani’.
Kriti Chand’s ‘Rachana’ and Jasmin
Bhandari’s ‘The Street’, coming in second
and third respectively. In keeping with the
profound nature of his prize winning
work, Asha has added a tense grip to the
subject by using very few basic colours.
Hanger’ were recipients of special prizes.
In Contemporary Sculpture, Sudarshan
B Rana’s ‘Paribesh’, a two piece mixed
medium exhibit connected by space and
expression, won the first prize, while
Bhuwan Thapa’s woodcraft, ‘Current
Situation’, was placed second and Bijaya
Maharjan’s Opexci medium ‘Desire’
received the third prize. Special prizes went
to Narendra P Bhandari’s ‘Passing’ and
Roshan Marjan’s ‘Family’. In the
Traditional department, first prize went to
Ram P Shrestha’s ‘Ghammapal Mahankal’,
Bibhusan N Tamrakar’s ‘Mahisashur
Mardini’, Binod Shakya’s ‘Mahankal’ and
Shyam KC’S ‘Hanuman Dhoka’ won first,
second and third prizes respectively in the
Craft division while Shyam S Yadav’s ‘Ram
Mala’ and Thirtha M Sthapit’s
‘Swaymbhunath’ received special prizes.
Regional award winners were Chhetra L
Kayastha (West Region), Uttam Shakya
(Middle Region) and Tirtha Niraula (East
Region) for ‘Dui Thopa Aansu’,
‘Akshobhya Mandal’ and ‘Ganesh’
respectively. S
FRAGMENTS OF A JOURNEY
Aditi Sadhu Chakraborty’s 2 nd solo
exhibition titled ‘Fragments of a Journey’
was held at the Park Gallery from 18 th to
31 st January 2006. The artist has described
her works as responses to her experiences
in her life’s journey. Intelligent colour
schemes are a particularly attractive element
of her paintings and enliven the various
different fragments in her canvases. Although Aditi claims to
have responded spontaneously while bestowing the fragments
with form and colour, the neat symmetry in all her canvases
forces one to think that perhaps the artist could not have escaped
a very conscious move towards creating a basic harmony.
Which is not a bad thing really, since the results have turned out
to be very pleasing to the eye as well as to the senses. .The
discerning viewer will surely appreciate the artist’s originality
even if shades of cubism do seem to have a role to play in
defining her style. S
CULTURAL STUDIES GROUP OF NEPAL
The Cultural Studies Group of Nepal (CSGN) was set up in
2000 to learn more about the arts and cultures of Nepal in a
setting where Nepalis and expatriates could share their common
interests in such matters. To achieve this aim, CSGN organizes
a monthly lecture series on the last Friday of every month at
9:30 AM at the Shanker Hotel. CSGN also has a schedule of
mid-monthly studio visits to learn about historic and religious
sites, local arts, crafts and antiques.
Some lectures held in 2005 were on ‘Nepali Resilience’ by Kunda
Dixit, ‘Life Behind the Camera’ by Dianne Summers, ‘The Plight
of Widows in Nepal’ by Lily Thapa and ‘Lain Singh Bangdel-
Writer, Painter and Art Historian of Nepal’ by Don
Messerschmidt. On Friday, 27 th January 2006, ‘The New Realities
of Nepalese Art’ was presented by Art Curator Sangeeta Thapa.
Her 40 minutes audio-visual presentation included a brief history
of Nepalese art as well as the effects of conflict and
contemporary concerns on the same. S
20 MAR-APR 2006 SPACES