Umesh Shah

Umesh Shah did his BFA from K.U., Kathmandu and completed his MFA from the Faculty of Visual Art from Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya (CG), India. He has held six solo exhibitions in Nepal and India, and has participated in many group exhibitions, including in Japan. He has been involved in different workshops and has participated in two International Camps in India. He has been awarded with First Prize at the district level art event in Sarlahi, Nepal.

He is very resourceful in paintings and etchings and his works reflect lifestyle in Terai, particularly that of Sarlahi where he spent his childhood. He grew up observing his grandmother paint traditional Mithila Art with natural pigments and clay. Therefore, in his latest solo show, he translates the rhythm in the repetition of chores, the beauty he finds in his roots and in nature.

An icon of an artist once stated that art is not only about expansion, it is rather about understanding one’s limitations. And when it comes to limitation, it should not merely hint regression or suffering. I can also mean a will to consciously expand by observing one’s surroundings. In this regard, Umesh is continuously going back to his home town for inspiration as he not only paints incorporating folk motifs of Mithila, he is also depicting human figures from Terai region to reveal the creative identity of that area. His artworks let us recognize how rich Terai is culturally and artistically.