A visit to Siddhartha Art Gallery in Babermahal in the next few weeks will set you up for an encounter with some large-scale paintings depicting, mostly centrally composed, nude human figures painted using a palette dominated by hues of ochre, umber and sienna. Mostly reclining, these realistic representations come alive against an unlikely backdrop of guns, fighter jets and war tanks.

The paintings, hung across the two floors of the gallery make up artist Mann Gurung’s debut solo exhibition, titled Power Politics and War. 

Gurung’s show opened last week, on November 8. Featuring a total of 23 works, a majority of the exhibits are paintings—and a handful of key sketches—made over the last two years as part of the artist’s project as an MFA student at Tribhuvan University.

Apart from that, somewhat out of place, are two human figure studies that the artist created half a decade ago, as a student at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston, USA. The artist says that the reason behind including these two works is to let his viewers know that he has put in a lot of work on studying the human figure.

The relaxed pencil studies come in between paintings that talk about power politics, and how it is the root of violence, but do not do much, however, to compliment the exhibition’s overall flow. 

The works do well to boast of the artist’s interest in human figures, though. All the paintings have human figures as primary subjects. The figures are mostly reclining or in positions wherein the muscles and the bone structures are stressed, exaggerating and adding to the shapes that the figure is made out of.

One can make out the command the artist has over his brush strokes; not everything of the oil paint is smudged and blended, but these brush strokes have been strategically used to suggest tonality and to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume in the figures. Juxtaposed alongside the soft, dimly illuminated human bodies are weapons rendered as hard-edged silhouettes.

In some, these weapons are placed together to create a larger silhouette altogether; a ghastly man-made shadow. In others, the weapons form, mostly circular, patterns. 

A particularly eye-catching composition is Power Politics and War III, a 40-inch-tall, square, canvas wherein long-range rifles, hand-held automatics and pistols sit together to form a circle, which in turn is circumambulated by seven human figures, who appear in different positions, some in fetal while others more stretched.

All of them face what could be called a ‘chakra of weapons’. They could be worshiping it, or submitting to it. Celestial beings drawn towards higher power, almost. Or like angels adorning ‘Virgin and Child’ in a Rubens’ painting.

The work quite aligns with the core idea of the theme of the exhibition—human beings’ yearning for power is persistent; so is their tendency for self-destruction. And there inevitably comes a time when this pursuit for power becomes pointless. Like the artist puts it: “It is not the humans who are in control. The guns control humans.” 

“If it is only politics, then there’s room for negotiation and compromise. But when we are dealing with power in politics, then violence in inevitable,” says the artist. Gurung keeps updated on world affairs and takes it up as a responsibility as an artist to address or talk about issues around the world through his art. “There is no point in living in a bubble. It is not right to ignore reality and keep painting flowers in your basement studio when there is a protest taking place outside.”

But while some of Gurung’s paintings address socio-political issues aptly, others fall short and seem superficial or too descriptive. Humanity 101-II, for example, tries too hard.

The top quarter of the portrait-oriented canvas depicts, in one horizontal line, smiling portraits of Yao Ming (the troll-face version)—the artist says the basketball star’s portrait represents us and our tendency to live and feed on the Internet—Obama, Putin and Al-Asaad.

An assortment of weapons merge together to act as a dividing border between the heads on top and the artist’s self-portrait (as a child) in the lower half of the canvas. The self-portrait is rendered as Omran, the iconic Syrian child who was rescued after an airstrike in Allepo. Omran (or the artist himself) is atop a pile of human skulls.

While, again, one will be acquainted to the artists draftsmanship through the work, it does not do much as a work of art and delves closer to the category of political illustrations in newspapers.

But the artist does have to be credited for taking it up on himself to make use of his art to contribute to the society in some way. Also, a brief conversation with him about his art will make clear that he does his research.

Gurung says he has been reading up on the various weapons that have been used in wars and violent conflicts in different parts of the world. Also, he has archived information on all the man-made objects of destruction that he has depicted in his paintings. It is commendable that the artist keeps track, not just of the incidents but what all are involved.

One of his findings through this research of his is that most of the deaths in the world through man-made weapons are of civilians of the third world. “Guns, though, are almost always made in first world countries,” says the artist.

Gurung is a draftsman whose skills are on par with a lot of other established Nepali artists who make life-like representations in their works. But in terms of bringing up issues through works of art, he is still in the journey of finding a path to bring things together. And considering that he has put so much effort into this project, it wouldn’t be wrong to look forward to a more cohesive body of work next time around. 

Power Politics and War is on display until November 27.