Artists Asha Dangol and Erina Tamrakar, are active in Nepali art field for about thirty years. They are continuously trying to take Nepali art scene to yet another horizon. Asha and Erina’s art journey began to gain further momentum with Kasthamandap Group established under the leadership of a late artist Prashant Shrestha. In the journey of three decades, the two wheels of the chariot worked continuously. Erina makes pictures focusing on women and Asha with nature. Their work is not limited to Nepal, but have also been decorated on the walls of individual houses including galleries, museums, commercial buildings in different places abroad.
The painting exhibition called Parallel Journey, which has been going on since January 20th at Gallery MCube, can be taken as an opportunity to show the creations created along with the life journeys of artists Asha Dangol and Erina Tamrakar in a sequence from the past to the present.
Erina Tamrakar is known as the third eye painter in the Nepali painting world, are connected with women’s feelings and emotions. The third eye can be found in any of the paintings he has made since 2012 in her painting journey of about thirty years. There are people who tag her as an artist who always makes the same picture. But she wants to be clear about that and says-‘My paintings contain women’s stories, sorrows and various emotions. If there is a third eye in matters such as sorrow, suffering, achievement, etc., women can go much further, they don’t need anyone’s help to face the challenges. So each of my paintings is emotionally different but they all have the third eye that I use. It cannot be called a single picture.’
About 13 years ago, artist Asha Dangol had the opportunity to participate in a workshop in Chitwan National Park. In those days, the smuggling of rhinoceros horn was very high. Asha was also serious to work on it at that time. The idea came to him that every living being on this earth has the same right to live as human beings. Since then, he started presenting himself as a model on canvas. He started keeping the animal’s head and his body. His efforts to show the relationship between nature and man continue.
Asha creative canvas tells the issue of pollution, and yet sometimes the stories of mountains and animals. Most of his creations are made on a blue background. In one of his paintings, he has presented himself in a very sad posture with an airplane in his hand, and the yellow sun is shown at the top. The setting of the canvas is gloomy with image of the mask on the outside of the ship. According to the artist – ‘Nepalese are going to sell labor in foreign lands due to compulsion and oppression, I have tried to portray it by touching his heart. Where I have used the sun as a symbol of hope or a symbol of the golden sun, the other image of an airplane is carried by a human body with the head of a buffalo. During the time of Corona, the future was uncertain, people wanted to return to their own country. No matter how far away a person is, even if he goes to sell his labor due to compulsion, in case of emergency, he will be forced to return to his own land due to his love for his homeland. ‘
Humans are exploiting nature. New inventions are destroying nature. The environment here is getting polluted. His pictures are made by looking at that subject from the eyes of the artist. The pictures that convey the message that if greenery is abundant, the environment here will definitely be better are included in this exhibition. Similarly, another picture of Dangol can attract people. In which a three-headed boar, a human body, chest and stomach are shown in a golden color like gold, Mount Everest. Everest has also been exploited by humans. There is no account of the pollution there. From the point of view of the environment, there is no snow in the mountains. An attempt has been made to highlight such topics in Asha’s pictures.
Artist Asha Dangol, who thinks about nature and animals for a long time and draws pictures, said that he became a vegetarian because of a special feeling towards these innocent animals.
This exhibition helps to observe the history of three decades of painting of the artists Asha Dangol and Erina Tamrakar. People can understand the changes in his paintings. The paintings created by including women’s emotions and feelings are placed in the exhibition.
In the modern era, women’s safety concerns are increasing worldwide. In a male-dominated society like ours, the way women are viewed and the problems they face are many. However, if women have a third eye, it would be a foreshadowing of the events that will happen. Women were spared. Erina believes that they would be successful in achieving new records. “Third Eye has a desire to work more creatively and on larger canvases.” Erina adds. One of the pictures in the exhibition includes the faces of five women. Which includes different castes and geography. Based on that, the artist has tried to express their feelings through their faces.
Erina Tamrakar’s paintings contain the feelings and emotions of women. She worked on ancient images around 2012, exhibiting art under the titles Reflection of Life, Reflection of Reality, Woman and Nature, Touch of Purity. At that time she studied our scriptures. She understood about the third eye mentioned there and started incorporating the third eye into her paintings. But when she arrived in February 2023, some changes were found in her picture. Erina, who spent about 11 years with her third eye, is now used to seeing with her inner eye. Now, instead of sitting in one place and watching everything, she should be active in the outside world, open her eyes to what is going on, she has started making open-eyed faces.
When asked why her eyes are open now, her answer was – ‘Now the inner eye is used to losing, I have done this because I have awakened the feeling that the outer eye should see the world along with the third eye.’ It is shown in the situation.
The first series of Parallel Journey took place in 2017. The current exhibition is the fourth. Artist Asha Dangol says that the exhibition was held under the same name after something changed in his work or to see the progress made in the work.
The plan to showcase these artworks of three decades was in 2021 Manis Lal Shrestha, the artist and director of MCUBE Gallery, feels the passion for their work and the images and colors they use. He says – I find that Asha Dai and Erina Didi’s working style and use of colors have their own peculiarities. Their work can also guide the new generation of artists. The combination of images and colors used by them looks different.
The exhibition will run from January 20th to February 5th (February 3rd to 17th).
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