Gopal Kalapremi Shrestha, the Sculptor, creates terracotta pottery works in modernized forms. “Kumudinee”, the white lotus is one of recurrent images in his works. The white lotus blooms at night. According to the Hindu and Buddhist mythologies, the white lotus is the symbol of purity, spirituality and enlightenment. In religious iconography, a number of deities are found seated on lotus. The artist perceives spiritual power in nature. Thus, he takes the images of nature as the subject matters of his works. He has presented the images of Kumudinee in the medium of black smoked terracotta. His works are sensuous and organic.
Kalapremi is not only the sculptor but also a poet. He presents his poems with sculptures simultaneously. Generally the poems are about the art works themselves and the process of creation. Hence, creative and critical process go hand in hand. As a poet, he knows the importance of rhythm and music in poem. He finds it equally useful in other genres of art as well. Hence, he applies this poetic element in the images of Kumudini too. And the visual images of the lotus are themselves poetic creations. There is parallel situation in how beauty blossoms in lotus, and how clay gets transformed into a work of art. No doubt the works of art are the representations of multiple dimensions and nuances of the lotus. However, in some sense, they resemble to various postures, expressions, moods of sensuous women. Some of them look like vases too.
Kalapremi has also created terracotta bottles which carry the organicity of plant, low relief carvings on the surface, the texture of sensuous soil and the colour of fine painting. The carvings have floral decorative patterns of early sculptures. Whatever he creates, he connects them to the nature. Here too, he takes a piece of vine and inserts into the bottle maintaining the proximity with organic matter. Through the bottle works, the artist explores the human existential angst and void. Despite the external beauty and sensuousness, the inner part is always empty. In the same fashion, although modern men and women seem colourful, variegated and glittering, hollowness, loneliness and melancholy reigns within them. Thus his terracotta bottle is the analogy of the tragic human condition. The artist is always conscious about socio-political events of the country and forwards his subtle comment through the works of arts. He presents the broken pottery plates to imply the fragmented and chaotic world outside.
Text: eartsnepal
photo: Artudio
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