Nepali artist on staging a public art exhibition Tales in Helsinki
Finland based Nepali artist Jesus Shrestha proudly presents his solo exhibition in Kajava gallery with art curator Antti Elomaa in Helsinki with support of Helsinki city and Arts promotion center Finland. This august 2022, thousands of viewers visited the gallery and appreciated his art. Shrestha has exhibited his new paintings which were painted already in 2018 with title of ‘Tales’ which had series of makchyaavtar and Samundramanthan. The show not only retold stories among inhabitants of Helsinki, but became an educational cultural study research for many culture lovers in the city. Finland which has been ranked as the ‘happiest country’ in the world has landmarked open space for new artist and culturally vibrant aesthetics for artist from all around the world. Being the first Nepali professional artist in Finland, Shrestha is very happy to share his old paintings which will show the detailed work in contemporary form.
On our conversation with the artist Shrestha ; he says, ‘In our moving, influential realities this exhibition is a memoir for our everyday life. On our anticipated consistent appeasable life moments, stories are the gateway towards moment of learning and enjoying the futile glamour of imagination. When proliferating selves regarding work, one tends to dramatize minstrel show in imagination. This exhibition is series of tales which will guide you on the gateway of style of thoughts which will break the cycle of habitual gestures. The aligned work intends to embrace light of the contemporary readiness. The list of work which are metronomic alternation of amplified stories which carry values of casual with everyday facts. The stories will strive freedom from imprisoning selves from our realities.
Complying with existing stereotypes as an immigrant origin, the stories helps me to connect with my origin and my initial artistic motivation. The big paintings intends to magnetically draw epigraphs on myths and contemporary stories which will redirect the current realities which can be relatable to everyone. This exhibition is meant to dedicate embody perception of magical stories, colorful metaphors for children to adult.’
He added that the exhibition is a representation of Nepali culture and memoir to all the south asian children who can re-remember and rejoice respective origins. He says, he finds his work much appreciated and also praised among Finnish communities but he wishes that Nepali people would benefit from the exhibition as it bring us nearer to our original values and roots.
While talking with art curator Antti Elomaa about the gallery and why he chose to curate Jesus’s art; he answered us;
‘’The two most important jobs we have are curating the artists well and providing a professional looking presentation. In curating we rarely look at the name or credentials of the artist – the works need to speak to us first. Being able to surprise the audience is important too. It would be supremely easy to choose twelve artists who work in abstract oil but where is the fun in that? Variance in technique, themes and scale drives the energy of the gallery.
Seeing the works of Jesus, it was immediately clear to us that this was something we wanted to show off. The heroic scale, dynamism of action and interplay of familiar visual themes with stories unfamiliar to us were an instant hit. I do not remember having to sell the exhibition to the other curators at all. And the choice was right, I’m happy to say.”
The open-minded people have praised the Nepali artist, many people have visited and asked details about Nepal and the artist’s origin and appraised the color in Finnish context. Curator Antti and Artist Jesus have together promoted the exhibition ‘Tales /Tarinat / Kathaharu’ and it has welcomed international children and adults. In hope of creating persistent memory from the exhibition, it has gained appraise in governmental and in local level.
Shrestha hopes to develop more networks and future projects to introduce Nepali art world in Scandinavian platform. He dreams to introduce Nepali art market in international arena with suitable admirers. On our interview with him, he mentioned that Nepali art needs courage and more promotion for future endeavors.
