[Led by a strong desire and dedication for fine arts, visual artist Umesh Shrestha left his home town, Dolakha in 1991 for Kathmandu to fulfil the promised dream of his parents – namely, becoming a teacher. But his fascination for fine arts was so intense that he couldn’t stick to his former dream and discarded the interest of his parents to pursue a journey of visual art. Despite the family’s disapproval, Shrestha chose to carry out his journey along the worn path. In this three decades’ journey in fine arts, artist Shrestha has extensively played with colours, brush and canvas proving his extraordinary artistic ability. He has conducted dozens of art exhibitions and workshops and has received a number of awards and grants for his artistic excellence. Having taught at different institutions including Lalitkala Campus, artist Shrestha has also visited around eight countries gaining an extensive international exposure. He is the founding member of Himalayan Art and Culture Foundation, Shrestha Art and Architecture Studio and Rural Village Fine Arts Centre. Currently, his art exhibition entitled “From mundane Friction to Self-Flow” is underway at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Babar Mahal, Maitighar. Mahesh Paudyal and Shilash Thapa Tamang of SahityaPost had an opportunity to talk with visual artist Umesh Shrestha on 14 September, 2023. The edited excerpt of the interview is presented here.]
Sir, about a week ago, your art exhibition titled “From Mundane Friction to Self-Flow” was inaugurated. It will understandably continue up to the 29th of September. How have people been responding to your exhibition?
I felt that people visiting my exhibition are now quite perceptive. They understand the spirit of my art. So, the responses are quite encouraging. Some responses are beyond my expectation. I had an encouraging moment when a young girl, after observing all my paintings, wrote me a feedback that one of my particular paintings made her yearn for her home so powerfully. Knowing that my painting could connect someone with their emotion was a different pleasure for me. Some visitors have approached my painting in a critical way. They wonder why I use a ‘bell’ so frequently in my paintings. And I explain the reason behind the motif of the ‘bell’.
As you talked about the motif of bell in your painting, we would also like to know why you use the bell symbol so preponderantly. How and when did you conceptualize that symbol of bell?
It was during the Maoist insurgency in 1998 when I was a bachelor’s level student at Lalitkala Campus. It so happened that on a certain day, while I was returning from the Campus, I encountered a group of police personnel (probably in their evening patrol) who happened to inquire me and examined my bag only to find brush and colours. Obviously, what else than colours and brush an art student’s bag would accommodate? But mistakenly, they took me for a Maoist cadre with painting stuffs out there to paint communist slogans on the wall. Thinking that I was a Maoist cadre, they took me to the police station. I couldn’t justify my innocence. Later, I somehow managed to free myself from their clutch. Suspicions pervaded all around me. The innocent ones were being victimized and I was one of them. The whole political atmosphere was infused with tension, violence, fear and suspicion. Amid such turbulence, I thought of using the ‘bell’ as a symbol to appeal for peace. So, one can easily figure out the frequent occurrence of the ‘bell’ in many of my paintings. The ‘bell’ also connotes a warning, as people have come to understand.
One of the stories that you often share is regarding the bitter relation between you and your parents which resulted when you decided to pursue your genuine passion for art, and not the career of their choice. This you also shared during the inaugural day of the ongoing exhibition. Looking at your past from the present moment, do you regret your decision to pick up art at that expense (relation with your parents)? And how has your passion helped you live a happy and satisfying life?
(With a radiating face) My happiness outreaches your question. I don’t have an ounce of regret for coming into the field of art. Definitely, I went through numbers of hurdles but that doesn’t mean I am not happy with what I am doing. One thing I can assure is that had I not chosen art as my career, I would surely have suffered more than this. It’s just that art as a career of my passion made me more tolerant and patient against any type of shortcomings. I don’t have to frown out of dissatisfaction, but doing artistic work has given immense pleasure to my heart and a lasting glow to my face. Some of my close associates, who are younger to me, look much older than I am, which means I could retain my youthfulness through this pleasure-giving work (says in a jocular way)!
How justifiable will it be to say that you also tend to mix your sorrows in your creations?
An artist’s life involves both grief and celebration at different occasions. When I said art has helped me live a happy life, never did I mean I was merry all the time. I do have moments of tears, stories of failures and unhappy notes of melancholy. They get expressed through my art with the help of various colours. So my creation sometimes borrows its inspiration from my sorrows. Thus, many of my paintings are a fusion of my creativity and life experiences.
Sigmund Freud, an intellectual giant in psychoanalysis, believed that art is the manifestation of unsatisfied human impulses. Being an artist, to what extend do you agree with Freud’s theory on artistic creation and psychological repressions? What portion of your creation is derived from your inner woes and what from the external world?
I agree to this proposition to a great extent. See, my ongoing exhibition titles “From Mundane Friction to Self-Flow”, through which I have tried to express my internal contradictions and my attempt to discover the self. Mostly, the outside phenomenon gives me the idea for creation, though my internal conflicts which Freud terms ‘repressed desires’ also get manifested through my artistic creation. So I should say, both internal and external affairs entice me to create something.
We have learned that you have achieved a Master’s Degree in Creative Painting from Tribhuvan University. How has this academic achievement helped you in your career?
A lot! My degree in Fine Arts has helped me gauge my position in the community of fine artists. I could definitely do paintings without academic degree but my understanding of art would be inadequate. It literally expanded my horizon of artistic perspectives. One also can understand the theoretical frame of art through such degrees. But again, to create anything, one has to transcend the theoretical frame.
Art (paintings) and literature are both creative works. What relation do you see between them?
I think painting and literature are complementary to each other. A painting needs words to communicate its deep embedded meaning. Likewise, sometimes words need a picture to describe its complex ideas. In this respect, both art and literature need one another in such special cases to communicate the intended meaning. (While in between the communication, poet Mahesh Paudyal duly gave reference to John Keats’ poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and William Carlos William’s “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” showing the intricate relationship between art and literature and said how both claim for truth and beauty, and give meaning to each other.)
Paintings that depart from the traditional approach and follow the impressionistic style tend to capture the feelings or emotions of the observers rather than making an accurate depiction of objects. Such a highly antistatic sense comes closer to what in literature we call the sublime effect.
What is the condition of fine arts in Nepal? And how has painting suffered a threat from the emerging technology?
Things have changed a way better than the past. Nevertheless, opinions can differ from individual to individual. In my opinion, a truthful artist faces a lot of challenges in today’s context. There are two approaches to art: commercial and creative. There are many artists who are quite commercial but not sincere enough to creative art as creative art demands time, patience and energy. Regarding technology, yes today’s art has suffered the effects of mechanical reproduction. Many people seem to be entrapped by cheap commercial production of art. At such a time, a truthful and sincere artist needs more patience and should keep striving for the best creation.
You have visited around eight countries and observed their art museums. What differences did you see in between those countries and Nepal regarding the preservation of art works?
Well, our artistic depth is no less superior to theirs. But we are left much behind in terms of preservation of art and culture. We are as creative as the best artists around the world, but we don’t have a culture of preserving and promoting our artistic properties. I was amazed seeing a museum in Romania where an entire village had been preserved by the state converting it into a museum, especially to conserve the glimpse of its rural life as it existed in the distant past. Every single thing has been preserved with great value. Germany also has the same culture. But we seriously lack such culture which is a sad thing.
Fine art institutions like Lalitkala Campus, Nepal Academy of Fine Arts, Tribhuvan University Department of Fine Arts, Sirjana College of Fine Arts and similar other institutions are established with a distinct purpose to promote art in Nepal. How successful these institutions have been, when seen from your eyes?
I don’t think they are optimally successful. Meritocracy is not seen in these institutions. The institutions should pass down creative and critical insights down to the next generation but this is not happening. Political factionalism and nepotism plague most of these institutions; as a result, the real purpose has been defeated somewhere on its way.
What about art criticism in Nepal?
It’s almost non-existent. There are a very few critics but they do not seem to be doing justice to the discipline of criticism. Actually we have not developed/learned the parameters to judge a work of art. Critics here are too subjective and hyperbolic when it comes to judging a work of art. Objective criticism is what we severely lack in Nepal.
Finally, would you like to add anything you think needs to be shared?
I have heard some artists from my field saying that title of my exhibition sounds a bit too philosophical. Here, I do not intend to sound snobbishly philosophical, but my own journey from a mundane friction to self-flow is what I honestly mean, when I am doing this exhibition. Having said this, I do not, however, claim that I have achieved anything called enlightenment; it’s just that I have tried to inquire the self within me. Besides, the exhibition is going well and the responses are very encouraging.
