Nepali Art: Part I

Today I took my motorbike out and drove around the city of Lalitpur (Patan) in Kathmandu to try and capture some of the art to be found. I wasn’t disappointed and found myself a ‘free’ art show.

Graphic design in Nepal is much improved from when I first arrived in 2011. Back then, I would see a lot of designs which used multiple fonts and loads of different colours, bad use of space and maybe even clip-art. The multiple colours weren’t just a selection of nice shades from a Pantone swatch, but your standard RGB pallet with bright reds, blues, greens… all the colours you could think of. There’s a word for this in Nepali: rangi changi (and if you Google this, your first hit will be for a YouTube link to a song called “Rangi Changi Phool”, which is not about me, but colourful flowers). The work was reminiscent to something an amateur would show you saying proudly “here’s something I’ve done in Microsoft Paint!”

This doesn’t apply to all graphic design in Nepal I hasten to add, but I did see it a lot. These days there are some very good designs I see floating around. Indeed, the locally produced magazine, ‘ECS’, (ECS, 2017) features some beautiful artwork telling the stories of craft around Nepal.

What is clear from my drive around Patan today is that there are some very talented artists here. Around the wall of the Kathmandu Zoo there are multiple murals painted. Some have been there for a while, others are more recent, but they all catch the eye and make you stop to admire and think. Some of the murals depict the culture and traditions, and some raise awareness to the social evils that are seen around Nepal. The detail of the lady with a nose ring when viewed up close is stunning.

Below is a selection of the art that I found today.

The final piece that I found (above) is full of detail, telling a story about the district of Doti in the west of Nepal. This is Hindu art and I’m not sure of the origins. Regardless, my own personal beliefs don’t stop me from admiring the intricate artwork that has been lovingly applied to this building.