A gallery full of Ganeshes

The Kalā Salon at the Chhaya Centre in Thamel is now four shows old, and currently is running an exhibition of paintings by South Asian artists of the elephant-headed deity, Ganesh.

Also known as Binayak, Ganesh is worshipped as a remover of obstacles and is honoured before starting new ventures.

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Titled ‘Hamsadhwani: Depictions of Ganesha’, the exhibit showcases paintings from the private collection of the Pratima and Prithvi Pandé family. It is curated by Chakshita R who is also the archivist of the gallery. 

“My parents have always supported the arts in Nepal, often sponsoring artists and musicians,” says Sophia L Pandé, founding director of The Kalā Salon. The Gallery is continuing this support, sponsoring residencies for two artists a year, one male and one female under the age of 30. 

Some of the paintings depict Ganesh traditionally with his official vehicle, the mouse, and laddoos, while others show the God more abstractly.

“The title "Hamsadhwani," referring to a serene raga in Hindustani classical music, reflects the many ways in which Ganesha is celebrated and worshipped, across disciplines,” writes Chakshita R in her introduction to the exhibit. 

The paintings are in the second, attic-like floor of the gallery, a rectangular space where every painting can be seen from anywhere in the room. 

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A painting by Daya Ram Palpali shows Ganesh as he may be seen in a temple around Kathmandu: lights are lit, bells are hanging, and the statue is golden and garlanded. The entire picture is in warm colors that make sections of green leaves stand out. Batsa Gopal Vaidya paints a blue Ganesh dancing on a background of green hills, mountains and a red sky. The tusks and the outlines of the mountains are done in a reflective silver underlay on the paint. 

A series of three paintings by Shankar Raj Singh Suwal show Ganesh in a celestial, heavenly form, engulfed in murky clouds.One of the three shows him with blue-skin just like his father, Shiva.

Suwal paints a winged mouse, perhaps pointing out the irony of an elephant-headed God riding around on a rodent.  

Then there are two prints by Seema Sharma Shah: of a temple glowing gold and a Ganesh standing up in a reddish-orange lotus with blue bells hanging above him.

“These are very sophisticated to make, and need to be etched out on metal first, and then treated with acid to create places for the paint to go into. Then they are printed layer by layer, blue first, then red, and then black,” explains Chakshita R. 

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S C Suman’s work is influenced by Mithila art and his piece looks like a pen drawing on a background of red, yellow and orange. The outline is then filled in concentrically, and some parts look like fingerprints. 

One abstract Ganesh, by Kiran Manandhar looks like it was finished in a hurry. Another in black and white uses stippling to create illusions of light and shadow. Yet another one shows a Ganesh with his usual gadgets and mouse but also with tattoos and posture that makes him look feminine. The mouse is smiling at him from below. 

Another Ganesh signed ‘Jizza’ features a cartoony, round Ganesh with a peacock feather on his head and ornaments in gold and weapons in silver, apparently a style found in South India. 

Going clockwise around the room, the depictions of Ganesh get more and more abstract and humanlike. This culminates in a series of prints by noted Indian painter M F Hussein where the deity is drawn with animals such as an elephant, a bird, a horse and a bull. 

The paintings are often in a single primary colour, with Ganesh as a fighter, a dancer and a toddler, just hanging out drinking water, or in a hammock.

“All these paintings were collected by my parents, who never acquired paintings for their name but only if they liked them,” says Sophia Pandé about the exhibition. “The Kalā Salon is a non-profit space for artists to see works by Nepali masters collected over the past 40 years, as well as a place to support current Nepali talent.”   

Hamsadhwani: Depictions of Ganesha

The Kala Salon

Chhaya Centre, Thamel

11AM-6PM, until 10 August