Manish Lal Shrestha

Manish Lal Shrestha's paintings recycle are reintegrate the traditional images and icons exploiting the modern forms. The recurrent images are bells, planets and pyramids. He does not present these images as they were represented in early works but modifies, reformulates and appropriates them for different purpose. The same contents are treated with different forms. He expresses new concept and vision using the primitive images. He explores and delineates the concepts of time, transition and development using the image of bell. In religious rituals the bell is used while worshipping the divinities. The twinkling of the bell produces the sonorous music in the dusk and dawn. The presence of a number of bells recreates the mythical ambience as in the Hindu temples. The significance of bell goes further ahead. Bell marks the time, the beginning and the end, the movement from one point to the other. What happens in the middle? The various events take place, the life progresses with new experiences. The experiences may remain the same stagnant to some. But for Manish, the change, progress and transformation are essential. Thus, his gestures suggest freedom, optimism, strength and the joy. The various blocks of colourful squires and rectangles represent the various stages of time, the movement from initiation to achievement. The transition is implied by the dividing lines of the geometric shapes, and sometimes by the little space between the shapes. The transition is not always gradual and linear. To leap forward from one stage to another extra effort is required. Manish assimilates himself with various ancient civilizations. The image of pyramid is the metonymic representation of Egyptian civilization. The pyramid also symbolizes the movement and transition, from mundane world to the spirituality. The inclusion of astrological images like nine planets suggests the artist's aspiration of wider horizon of knowledge. The background of some paintings is full of strange abstract images. The colour combination and the rhythm creates mystical atmosphere sometimes giving impression of the sphere of universe. The works are rooted to the artist's own culture, yet they extend to the contemporary time with renewed flavor. The significances of the images are not always necessary to enjoy Manish's works. The colours, forms and images directly enter the viewer's heart for their own sake.