Whenever Nepali art is mentioned, the first things that come to mind are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival/" target="_blank">thangka</a> paintings or bronze Tara. Now, an exhibition at Europe’s foremost ethnographic museum in Vienna &nbsp;paints a surprisingly vibrant picture of contemporary art in Nepal.
The <a href="https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/ausstellungen/nepal-art-now/" target="_blank">Nepal Art Now</a> exhibition at the <a href="https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/" target="_blank">Weltmuseum Wien</a> is the largest ever exhibition of modern Nepali art outside the country, and includes 130 paintings, sculptures, video art and installations by 40 artists from Nepal.
“This is an exhibition that showcases the creativity and energy of Nepali artists who redefine the influence of the West, and it shows how the local, national and global permeate each other,” said Christian Schicklgruber, director of the Weltmuseum Wien, who co-curated this exhibition.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-art-now-in-vienna/">Nepal Art Now in Vienna</a>
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Schicklgruber and the late <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/On-the-way-up/complete-projects-of-Dina-Bangdel,977" target="_blank">Dina Bangdel</a> came up with the idea for a major exhibition three years ago. Bangdel died suddenly in 2017, but the project went ahead in her memory with co-curator Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha of the Nepal Art Council. In the mezzanine of the Weltmuseum is another presentation of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/mithila-art-with-a-message/" target="_blank">Maithil art</a> by female painters, put together by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Himalayan-style-kelly-burkert-book-review,2032" target="_blank">Claire Burkert</a>.
“The hardest part of the exhibition was to select art works from more than 800,” recalls Kayastha. “We worked extra hours to curate it, and had to leave behind many works by artists we knew. But these paintings represent the best of Nepali art today.”
Indeed, the works by <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/07/26/using-art-for-social-change/" target="_blank">Hit Man Gurung</a>, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/nepali-artists-showcase-work-on-migrant-workers-in-dhaka-art-summit,1110" target="_blank">Sunil Sigdel</a>, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/amalgam-2014-review,1489" target="_blank">Sanjeev Maharjan</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/The-world-beyond-thangkas,3139" target="_blank">Ang Tsherin Sherpa</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5323" target="_blank">Asha Dangol</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2012/09/20/intolerance-of-tolerance/" target="_blank">Manish Harijan</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3817#.XLXCw4kza70" target="_blank">Ashmina Ranjit</a>, among others, represent world-class talent that blend traditional Nepali art forms like paubha, wood carving and metal work, with modern elements. Although ‘modern’ has come to mean ‘western’, the exhibition is proof that Nepal is now recognised as a centre for contemporary art that shuns western homogeneity, and has carved out its own space based on tradition, shared national history, and cosmopolitan influences.
“When you said Nepali art in the past, people expected traditional art forms. What we see at this exhibition is the vibrancy and creativity of contemporary Nepali art, the role of women, as well as the global and local impact of the works. Being an ethnographic institution, it makes sense to have the exhibition at the Weltmuseum,” director general Sabine Haag said at the inauguration here last week.
Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5941#.XLhM1jAzbIU">In Vienna museum, Nepalis worship stolen Buddha</a>, Erwin Melchart
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Even though some of the art works are rooted in Nepali culture and traditions, they use modern forms of oil and canvas, installations and sculptures to address contemporary issues like exclusion, social justice, gender, conflict, the 2015 earthquakes, the commodification of religion, migration and the environment. In fact, many of the works are not just aesthetic or spiritual in their function but are imbued with deep socio-political commentary.
The inaugural ceremony of the exhibition at the Weltmuseum featured the Himalayan Quartet, led by Nepali composer Rupak Kumar Shahisamuda, which played several fusion pieces based on popular Nepali folk songs. The Weltmuseum is located in Vienna’s Hofburg, the winter palace of the Hapsburgs that became infamous for a speech given by Adolf Hitler from one of its balconies after the Anschluss (forced unification of Germany and Austria) in 1938.
Nepal’s traditional carvings and paintings by anonymous masters that adorn temples and monuments have been worshipped over the centuries, and are still regarded as embodiments of the divine. However, they came to be regarded as ‘art’ after being stolen and exhibited in museums in Europe and America, and were detached from their original spiritual value.
The contemporary Nepali art on exhibit here is defined not by its style, but by paintings, sculptures and installations that were created in the past 50 years, with diverse themes ranging from devotional, social commentary, abstract and modern.
Most of the artists have shunned ‘Western’ techniques, and gone global to develop a unique grammar of their own. Says Schicklgruber: “Modernism had Paris, London and New York as its traditional centres of art. In the postmodernist age other cities have joined this exclusive club. One of them is Kathmandu.”
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/new-newa-art/">New Newa art</a>, Sewa Bhattarai
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Before going to Vienna, Nepal Art Now was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-art-now-in-vienna/" target="_blank">pre-exhibited</a> at the Nepal Art Council in Kathmandu in December 2018. Most of the works on display are different from both traditional Nepali art and western postmodernism. You can see influences of Picasso, Matisse and Warhol, but almost as parody. Mona Lisa also appears in Manuj Babu Mishra’s famous ‘selfie portrait’.
Manish Harijan’s audacious renditions of deities duelling with modern cartoon characters are a critique of the commercialisation of religion, and got him into hot water with fundamentalists in 2012. Asha Dangol’s theme deals with disasters like earthquakes and environmental degradation.
One could say that Nepali artists are not influenced by the ‘West’ but by ‘trans-continentalism’, fusing Nepali religious and cultural visual metaphors with modern techniques giving our vernacular a new spin – turning the local into global.
Nepal Art Now
Open daily except Wednesdays
10AM – 6PM
Adults €12
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<h2>Maithil folk art now</h2>
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The mezzanine floor of the Nepal Art Now exhibition at the Weltmuseum in Vienna is devoted to Maithil art from the Janakpur Women’s Development Centre. The separate exhibit proves that contemporary Nepali art needs to look beyond Kathmandu Valley. In the 30 years since the establishment of the Centre, women painters in Mahottari have developed as individual artists, and used traditional techniques and styles to experiment with new expressions. The exhibit includes self-portraits of these ight artists, along with photos and their life stories in their own words: Anuraghi Jha, Remani Mandal, Rebti Mandal, Suhagbati Saha, Madhumala Mala, Manjula Thakur, Sailo Yadav, Sudhira Karna, Komal Purbe, Rajkumari Mandal, Nirmala Ram, Renu Yadav, Pano Das and Indrakala Nidhi. Their paintings are arranged by theme from traditional imagery to depictions of planes, motorcycles, radios, irons and sewing machines. The paintings are fresh, original, and give the artists of Maithil the recognition they are long due. Curated by Claire Burkert.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/mithila-art-with-a-message/">Mithila art with a message</a>, Prakriti Kanel
<h2>The Chitrakars of Kathmandu</h2>
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Ever since <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-life-and-times-of-arniko/">Arniko travelled to the court of Kublai Khan</a> in the 14th century, Nepali artists have ventured abroad, and picked up new techniques. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/pencilling-in-kathmandu-rajman-singh-chitrakar,3379" target="_blank">Raj Man Chitrakar</a> did sketches and watercolours with British resident and naturalist <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3246#.XLbXFIkza70" target="_blank">Brian Houghton Hodgson</a> in the mid-19th century and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5358#.XLbXQ4kza70" target="_blank">Bhaju Man Chitrakar</a> accompanied <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/the-rest-is-history-for-john-whelpton/" target="_blank">Jang Bahadur</a> to Victorian England in 1850. It was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2051#.XLbX2Ykza70" target="_blank">Dirgha Man Chitrakar</a> who travelled to England with <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-rana-reign-a-recap-of-history,3751" target="_blank">Chandra Shumsher Rana</a> in 1908, and there is a long line of Newa artists including <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2051#.XLbX2Ykza70" target="_blank">Tej B Chitrakar</a> right down to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671" target="_blank">Lok Chitrakar</a> in the present day, whose <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11339#.XLbYj4kza71" target="_blank">pauba</a> of Vasudhara is among the exhibits in Vienna.
Coinciding with the Nepal Art Now exhibition was <a href="https://www.dieangewandte.at/en/news/exhibitions/detail?artikel_id=1551192322335" target="_blank">Preserving a Legacy</a>, an exhibition of photographs by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Illustrated-history-of-chitrakars-nepal,3655" target="_blank">four generations of Chitrakars</a> at the <a href="https://www.dieangewandte.at/en" target="_blank">University of Applied Arts</a> in Vienna. The exhibition, which ended on 12 April, included prints by Dirgha Man Chitrakar, Ganesh Man Chitrakar, Kiran Man Chitrakar and Swaraj Man Chitrakar.
Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Illustrated-history-of-chitrakars-nepal,3655">An illustrated history of the Chitrakars</a>, &nbsp;Sahina Shrestha

Kunda Dixit

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Nepali Art going places

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936eb9c7e80680e03fe07jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Paintings of the Nepal Art Now Exhibition are in pre-display at Nepal Art Council for the next two weeks before being taken to Welt Museum in Vienna including this triptych by Sunil Sigdel. Photos: NEPAL ART COUNCIL</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Weltmuseum Wien,</a> one of the most renowned ethnographic museums in the world, is organising a first-of-its kind exhibition to showcase the best works of Nepali contemporary and traditional art to a worldwide audience.Weltmuseum is collaborating with the Nepal Art Council, a national institution founded in 1962 to promote the arts and artists in Nepal, is the home-country partner and collaborator for this project.The Nepal Art Now Exhibition is scheduled for 11 April–05 November 2019 in Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and home to the great Hapsburg connoisseurs of the arts.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/artivists-at-the-bank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Artivists at the Bank</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936ee9c7e80680e03fe08jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">This exhibition will include 100 art works by 37 Nepali artists and will be the first major exhibition of Nepali art outside Nepal. The selection has been carefully curated by Christian Shicklgruber, Director of the Weltmuseum in Vienna and assisted by Nepal Art Council. It will be showcased at Welt Museum, which used to be the Hofburg Imperial Palace.The project was conceived in 2016, by the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/On-the-way-up/complete-projects-of-Dina-Bangdel,977" target="_blank" rel="noopener">late Dina Bangdel</a>, and was co-curated by Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha from the Nepal Art Council Council. The project was coordinated by Sagar SJB Rana, Vice-President of the Council.“The exhibition will include original art works by the premier artists dating from the 1950s, the senior and the young emerging artists of today will compliment and enrich the collection,” Rana said.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936f29c7e80680e03fe09jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">Some of the art were commissioned especially for the Vienna exhibition, while others were borrowed from collectors and the artists directly. The art works are embedded in the culture and traditions of Nepal but also discuss and probe into current international issues and social concerns, giving them a global relevance.Art historians emphasise the overriding influence of the art of the European masters in the evolution of contemporary art in Asia. The exhibition will demonstrate this cultural cross-pollination and and serve to highlight Nepali talent that builds on the country’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-craft-of-art/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traditional art-forms fused to modern influences and techniques</a>. The curators say that the works of Nepali artists underline the coming of age of Asian contemporary art that now compares well with the best works in the West.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936f59c7e80680e03fe0ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">While art works will dominate the exhibition, some outstanding sculptures and a few representative pieces of traditional metal, wooden and stone art will also be on display in Vienna to demonstrate and inform the international art community and visitors that these genre of art forms occupy equally important and vibrant space in the art of Nepal.A pre-show exhibition will be held at the Nepal Art Council 13-21 December before the pieces are flown to Vienna.Nepal Art Now Pre-ExhibitionNepal Art CouncilBaber Mahal13-21 December

Nepal Art Now in Vienna

Exhibition showcases contemporary Nepali Thangka and Paubha painters <figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101152/6368d62d9c7e80680e03146bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="930"/><figcaption>Muna Photos: Michael Gordon</figcaption></figure>Walk into most <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paubha</a> or Thangka shops in Thamel or Durbar Marg, and you will probably hear a story about Tibetan monks grinding stone pigments high in the Himalaya. ‘Exotic’ spirituality has become as much of a brand as Iphones used to Instagram it, but in reality most of these paintings are produced by Tamangs, Gurungs, and Newars using inexpensive poster colors in warehouses around Boudha and Bhaktapur.The painting factories may not seem ‘authentic’, but for the artist it puts food on the table. The demands of economic survival and the need for cultural preservation create new terms of authenticity for paubha and thangka.Thangka and paubha were originally ritual objects for Vajrayana Buddhists. Many would like to separate what is sacred and what is sold, but this is a false distinction. The paintings always involved financial transactions.However, as secular art collectors and tourists buy more of them, profit drives commodification.Tularam Lama has been painting for over 25 years, yet he is still at the mercy of gallery dealers who do not share their profits with artists.“We are compelled to sell cheap,” says Lama, who founded the Nepal Association of Thangka Artists. He still strives to maintain artistic integrity, teaching Tamang students to paint with inexpensive pigments as well as to understand the tradition's cultural heritage.Some painters use the market to build connections. Bhim Thapa, manager of Tara Thangka Center in Thamel, donates 25% of his sales to his community in Sindhupalchok. Prior to the earthquake, Thapa’s sales supported orphan children and women’s education. Today he focuses on basic necessities like blankets and food. "Thangka is not about perfect iconography, says Thapa, “to help is my dharma.”At the other end of the spectrum, internationally renowned <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2014/10/05/devoted-to-painting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lok Chitrakar</a> paints with traditional mineral colors and works with scholastic rigour. He will be the first to gently remind you that paubha and thangka are not the same thing.Paubha was developed by the Newars of Kathmandu Valley in the 7th century. Nepali Princess Bhrikuti is said to have taken some of the images with her when she introduced Buddhism to Tibet 1,300 years ago. Over centuries, Tibetans developed their own stylistic code known as thangka. After the exile of the Dalai Lama in 1959, Tibet and its people gained increasing global popularity. Today, many tourists flock to Nepal as a surrogate for Tibet, hoping to find the monasteries (and thangkas) they saw in TinTin in Tibet and National Geographic documentaries.But what they find may defy expectations: Lok Chitrakar’s use of Hindu gods like Ganesh as icons of Newari Buddhism is not just an artistic choice, but a testimony to Nepal’s unique religious coexistence.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d6309c7e80680e03146cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="889">For many, however, maintaining these traditions is oppressive. Historically, thangka and paubha were made by men, but today the field is changing thanks to women artists like Muna Moktan. For her thangka means not just employment but also empowerment. She supports her family and a school of aspiring Tamang artists (mostly girls) with her paintings.“Women need to find a way to live on their own means, and I found it through thangka,” says Moktan.Read Also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The art of gods</a>, Tsering Dolker GurungSonam Dolma guides (rather than ‘teaches’) students in ritual pursuit of perfection.Many painting production centers now use transparent plastic overlays to rapidly reproduce outlines. Sonam’s students at the Tsering Art school use black wooden boards thinly coated with ghee and dusted with white chalk- to repeatedly draw until outlies are memorised, “by hand, mind, and heart.” The painters begin and end each day with prayer, to remember the true purpose of their craft.One of Sonam’s top students, Karma Rinchhen Gurung, paints to strengthen his practice as a Buddhist monk. At 15, he entered Samten Ling Monastery, and like his monastic vows, his painting brings him freedom through discipline. He considers his practice meditation, focusing his mind and brush on a single point. People often ask if he paints to make money. He himself wonders: “Am I doing this for dharma or for economic reasons?” Many students at Tsering Art School, including monks, paint for private dealers to afford living in Kathmandu.Read Also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Illustrated-history-of-chitrakars-nepal,3655" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An illustrated history of the Chitrakars</a>,  Sahina Shrestha<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d6329c7e80680e03146djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="986"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The foreign interest in thangka and paubha has also encouraged artistic individuality. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3915#.WvP2AH_BXIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tenzin Norbu</a> comes from a 400 year old lineage of thangka painters.Each new generation <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/The-world-beyond-thangkas,3139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke away from the stylistic trends</a> of their predecessors. Norbu now illustrates modern Dolpo life and has shown around the world from the Rubin Museum in New York to Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. His ancestors never signed their paintings, believing in the collective accumulation of merit. Norbu now champions his distinct style as an emblem of personal entrepreneurship.For some, the craft is a way of maintaining cultural and spiritual lineage. For others, redefining not only what is painted, but who gets to paint affirms the rapid democratisation of the art from. To all artists, the paintings are a means of sacred survival, providing both sanctuary and subsistence.Sacred Survival, an exhibition of seven contemporary thangka and paubha artists 11 to 21 May, Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Curated by Michael Gordon.

Sacred survival

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