‘Understanding the Void in Nepali Contemporary Art Today’ a Panel Discussion
What are the roles of artists, art writers, curators, art managers, institutions in Nepali contemporary art today? Where does the Nepali art market stand in the world art market? Has the art and the artistic community intervened in the social structure today? Are art and society interlinked well? What are the lacking points of schooling today? These are the major questions that occur when we try to understand the void in Nepali contemporary art today; we will try to not just address these questions but bring out light on it with decisive upshots.
‘Understanding the Void in Nepali Contemporary Art Today’ is a panel discussion, a part of ‘Artists of the Month August 2020’ in relation to an uprunning exhibition ‘A Portal to Nepali Contemporary Art after COVID-19’ and the Bikalpa Store. This program will be precisely focused on the constructive discussion around the subject; the gap within the artistic community and society. It also tries to comprehend the work of artists and obtain a prolific awareness and learning.
This program was planned for Saturday 29th August 2020 but because of the currently enforced LOCKDOWN and COVID-19 coronavirus high influences in the town we are obliged to postpone it for the new date in the coming days. (the date will be announced on social media)
The panelists are the two artists, Mr. Lok Chitrakar & Prithvi Shrestha, the curator Mr. Saroj Mahato, the moderator Mr. Roshan Mishra and the art writer/ Critique Mr. Mukesh Malla.
The length of the program will be 60 minutes long followed by a short QnA session. The program will take place at Bikalpa Art Center and it will be live-streamed on BAC’s YouTube channel.
The Panelists:
Lok Chitrakar (Artist)
The Artists of the Month Mr. Lok Chitrakar on the panel is an icon of Nepali Traditional Art (Paubha Painting) He is a self-taught artist from Patan Lalitpur, Nepal. His artistic journey started as his very early age of 12 inspired by his father and relatives making carious religious arts.
Today, Lok Chitrakar is known as one of the country’s foremost paubha painter a master, a respected name and his work is in the collection Fukuoka Asian Museum, Russia and many private collections in Nepal and abroad.
Prithvi Shrestha (Artist)
One of the other Artists of the Month Mr. Prithvi Shrestha on the panel is an emerging versatile new media/ conceptual artist. Mr. Shrestha is also from Patan, Lalitpur, Nepal. He has 5 solo exhibitions, participated in various national as well as international workshops and festivals, and has received multiple awards for his outstanding performances and paintings. His artworks are in multiple private collections in Nepal as well as abroad.
Mr. Shrestha is a founder of Bindu Space for artists which is one of the insignificant independent art institutions in Kathmandu.
Mukesh Malla (Art Writer/ Critique)
One of the few artists/ writers who has contributed to the Nepali art community for over 40 years is Mr. Mukesh Malla. Currently even devoting his time to being a leading art writer/ critic of Nepali Art and an active art practitioner as well. His knowledge of Nepali contemporary art with a modern twist has been well informed in the various publications.
Learn more about his publications, artworks here
Roshan Mishra (Moderator)
Roshan Mishra is the Director at Taragaon Museum and a visual artist based in Kathmandu. He also manages the Nepal Architecture Archive (NAA), which is run by the Saraf Foundation. He has been curating the external and internal exhibitions at the Taragaon Museum since 2014. Roshan is also a visiting faculty at the Kathmandu University for research, archiving, and documentation program. Roshan initiated the Global Nepali Museum and Mishra Museum. He studied Fine Arts BFA (Painting) at Lalitkal Campus, Kathmandu, Nepal, and MFA (Digital Art) at the London Metropolitan University, UK.
Saroj Mahato (Curator)
An independent artist/ filmmaker, the co-founder of BAC and curator Mr. Saroj Mahato has been actively working at BAC as a curator/ art manager for the last 6 years. He studied BFA from Tribhuvan University, Lalitkala Campus, Kathmandu, Nepal, and MFA (Video/ Film) from the Korea National University of Arts, Seoul, South Korea. He is also an alumni of the Asian Film Academy at Busan International Film Festival. He has also worked at Tribhuvan University Central Department of Arts for five years (2012- 2017) as a new media lecturer.
His curated shows can be found on BAC’s blog posts and you may learn more about him here
