Inspiration - More Than Art

 

Art culture has expanded to the point where someone could make a full time job out of attending each and every exhibition be it for art, photography, installations, and even fashion. But most do not have the luxury of making it to every event and so there is the risk of attending exhibitions which disappoint, or worse, missing out on those worthy of attention. The BFA Exhibition Project 2012, open since Monday, July 30, at Nepal Arts Council, Babarmahal, which showcases the works of eight artists from Kathmandu University School of Arts Centre for Art and Design, thankfully falls into the latter category.
My low expectations were shattered by what I saw put together by final year students studying for a Bachelor’s in Fine Art and an eighth credit student from Germany. Together, Anil Shahi, Anja Warzecha, Bindu Gurung, Laxman Bazra Lama, Nabil Nalbo, Sapana Shah, Sujan Dangol, and Sunil Pradhan have bro-ught an exhibition that showcases the individual artist in each and works beautifully as a whole. At a glance, each artist has their own style and message, but it’s clear that everyone has responded to their surroundings, albeit in distinctly different ways.
In his project Don’t Make Me Laugh, Anil Shahi presents the face of jokers with reddened wide smiles not unlike the villain ‘Joker’. Stating that these jokers are all around us, Shahi says it’s not clear whether the smiles we are surrounded by are fake, happy or genuine, “it’s just important that we smile.”  Bindu Gurung has interpreted the environment on a personal and public level with two rooms that represent a public space like a chiya pasal, and the far more private bedroom. 
Laxman Bazra Lama’s It Never Stops and It Never Ends was slightly more political; whether it’s conveying the idea of a broken state through a large cracked black egg spilling smaller eggs onto the floor or large block letters cut out from political magazines scattered on the floor—he sends a clear message.
In a different part of the room, Sujan Dangol presents Utopia 2.0 NP—the city represented through a cardboard box or though a merged metal structure. Sapana Shah takes a deeper look at how we respond to pain through scenes from a hospital mounted on x-ray light boxes in Horizon of Sympathy. Working with illusions and what looks like pasted bits of paper, Anja Warzecha explores fragments and creates spontaneous multilayered pieces. Nabil Nalbo explores the many facets of society through portraits in Human Identity, and Sunil Pradhan makes a poignant commentary on consumerism in I Love Pricetags.
While many artists come up with ideas that are impressive conceptually, they aren’t always well executed. But this exhibition sets itself apart from others. BFA Exhibition Project 2012 is impressive in terms of how much each exhibit accomplishes. Each artist has expressed a distinct idea through various materials and mediums, yet the ideas are portrayed so that viewers are able to understand something at first glance. The true brilliance is only revealed when one spends time speaking to the artists and lingering by the pieces.
The exhibition provides a titillating experience for art enthusiasts, offering what can only be a testament of the vast reservoir of talent in Nepali artists.
Under the tutelage of Sujan Chitrakar, programme coordinator at the Centre for Art and Design, these final year students have acquired a stronger sense of themselves and their project idea, resulting in solid pieces. If there is one and only one exhibition in Kathmandu you attend, make it this one.
BFA Exhibition Project 2012 is open until Wednesday at Nepal Arts Council, Babarmahal