Stone sculpture exhibition, ‘Inheritance’ kicked off last Tuesday at Nepal Art Council, Baber Mahal. The exhibition displays black-blastic rock artworks of veteran sculptor Chandra Shyam Dongol.
He has used religious motifs such as gods, goddesses, and chaityas to create traditional stone sculptures. According to Dongol, it takes him at least three months to complete a piece. The exhibition also has sculptures that were created 12 years back on display.
Dongol was inspired by the book on Nepal’s chaitya by Niels Gutschow that determined him to conduct a solo exhibition on different variances of Chaityas. However, the unfavorable conditions put him on hold. “For traditional artists like me, it is not possible to collect many artworks due to financial problems. The time the artwork consumes while in the process of making and the cost one artist has to bear are the reasons why a traditional artist cannot do a solo exhibition. And I have to satisfy myself with this exhibition where you can see a variety of chaityas as well as other sculptures.”
Moreover, in the exhibition he has showed the detailed features in his sculptures. There is also a rhythm in the carving of the statue. In one of the statue, he has carved the life story of Gautam Buddha onto a single stone. He has parted the life of Gautam Buddha from his conceiving to his death in 13 rectangular segments. Though the figures of human and objects are smaller in size, he has shown details of hair, facial feature, ornaments among others.
The exhibition continues till June 28.