Soulfully Yours

She says she gets quite excited when a painting of hers turns out really well. “I like to share my joy and call some of my friends to look at it.” Shashikala Tiwari,  doyen of Nepal’s art world, is as unpretentious as they come, and as down to earth. One of her works, bought by a Japanese collector, fetched the princely sum of  $10000. “I think only one other painting by Lain Singh Bangdel was sold for a higher price in Nepal- for about $15000,” she says. “But that was after his demise, so possibly, my painting was a record in itself for a living artist.”

One of her all time favorites is ‘Merging With Nature', completed in 1988. “I was specially delighted with it because this was the time when I tried to divert from using deep colours to more of pastel shades, specially - more of white,” Indeed, a viewer cannot but be impressed with this painting and can easily understand why the soulful artist is so attached to it. ‘Merging With Nature’ shows a woman of lovely proportions (this, a regular feature in many of her works), clad in a white accoutrement further emphasizing her feminine curves - out in the open, seemingly at one with nature even when being buffeted by the powerful gusts of a strong wind. The painting succeeds admirably in portraying a sense of the sensuality of a sublime feminine form caressed by nature, and the woman, in turn, blissfully ecstatic in the experience. It is, in other words, soulfully sensuous in content.

It is perhaps a rule of nature that people are wont to compensate. Shashikala was born in 1950 to Tej Raj and Premi Devi Tiwari. The father who was of a  liberal bent and encouraged his two sons and five daughters to pursue education, died at the young age of fifty four. The mother, happily, is alive and well, and hale and hearty for an eighty year old. An elder brother, Devendra, and an older sister, Vijaya, have passed away. The remaining brother, Professor Sudarshan Tiwari, a noted Architect and Academician, is the present Principal of the Institute of Engineering; a sister, Vidhya, lives in Ireland, and is a practicing doctor while another sister, Usha is a Botanist and is in Atlanta, USA. Pratima, the youngest, is doing her Ph.D in Environment in Baltimore, USA. Except for Pratima, all her living siblings are married and with families. So, and specially after considering her fame, fortune and personality, one has to be forgiven for being a little curious for wondering about her still single status.

She is straightforward in her reply, and even laughs about it. Thankfully, she doesn’t mind the query as some others undoubtedly would have.. “The most obvious answer is, maybe I couldn’t find a suitable soul mate?” she replies quizzically. “Of course I do have friends, some of whom are quite intimate, but as for marriage, I honestly think I never could find a person who would be perfect for me.” This, then, is one of the problems in the artist’s life. “You know, here it is quite difficult to find people one can relate to on a certain level. Specially the intellectual one.” It is obvious that Shashikala, a reputed artist who has traveled the globe, and hob-nobbed with great personalities of equally great fame, finds herself in rather shallow waters within the confines of her present day society. It is also obvious that she seeks much more, and substantially so. That is why she admits, “I don’t like crowds and prefer not to attend many functions. Even if I have to go I make it a point to reach after most others have left.”

Shashikala desires to live a simple life and says she is particular about her eating habits. Possibly, this could be one of the reasons for her state of health, which by all accounts, is pretty good. She loves to walk and doesn’t let go of the opportunity to go on long walks when so favored. She likes travel, is fond of nature, and loves to while away time with kids. Her studio, nearby her two storied house, overlooks acres of greenery within the premises of her compound in Bishalnagar. “I bring a lot of plants and such and dump it in the garden.. I don’t actually do the gardening- my brother is better at that- but I do enjoy the environment.” This love of nature has motivated the artist to paint a whole series of works on  canvases titled ‘Fallen Leaves’,  “Flowers”,  “Harvest Leaves” and “Monsoon”. Shashikala is currently at work on a series of a different sort-that of the famed Meera which she has titled as ‘Bhakti Series’. She has also done a series of paintings on the subjects of Ganesha and Krishna.

Shashikala did her early schooling from Mahendra Bhawan and Kanya Mandir and attended college at Ratna Rajya for some time. She received her Bachelor in Fine Arts in 1973 from M.S. University, Baroda, and earned a  Bachelor of Arts degree from Tribhuvan University in the same year. The artist also has a Diploma in French Language which she received in 1975 from TU. Presently she works in the Design Section of the Department of Printing under Communications Ministry, where in fact she has worked since 1977.  “I have a fine job which does not interfere with my painting,” she informs. “My colleagues are very understanding and supportive.” The artist says that she takes a comparatively long time to finish each of her works, “On an average, one hundred hours.” Maybe because she is so fastidious herself, the artist is not so enthusiastic about assembly line - like works by some artists. However, she is quite happy with the output of many of the upcoming artists.

From 1970 onwards Shashikala Tiwari has participated in forty-four group exhibitions here and abroad and has had ten solo shows from 1973 to 2002. The last time her works were on display was in 2005 in the Contemporary Art Exhibition organized by Nepal Kalakar Samaj at NAFA. Her first solo exhibition at NAFA had been inaugurated by Queen Ratna in 1973, and in 1984, her ‘Foot Marks of Peace’, again at NAFA, was inaugurated by the late Queen Aishwarya, as was ‘When Season’s Change’ at the Nepal Art Council in 1996. In 2002, her ‘Sunnya Man Ka Stabdha Aankha Haru’-a tribute to the late King Birendra and his family- was much acclaimed. The exhibition had a collection of beautiful and lovingly colored depictions about the royal tragedy. Specially moving were works like ‘Na Rittine Aanshoo Haru’, ‘Aashirbad’, ‘Shraddhanjali’ and ‘Ma Kasharee Udaun Aba”. The artist’s poetic talent was also obvious in the lyrical eulogy she had penned on the accompanying brochure, and in which Sangeeta Thapa, Curator of Siddahartha Art Gallery has written, “ …she is also an accomplished poetess. It is precisely this synthesis of literature and art that gives Shashikala’s paintings a distinct lyrical style”.

Shashikala has many admirers, not least of all, within her own artistic fraternity, and is looked upon as somewhat of an ideal by aspiring painters. It is also natural for many to suppose that Shashikala is to some extent a feminist, but no, she is a bit different from the usual pack. “What is independence after all?” she asks. “One should be free in one’s thinking. It is all in the mind and has very little to do with the physical aspects.” About the common desire to excel, this is her view, “One should first and foremost be sincere to oneself and one must be really dedicated to one’s calling. Then there is no reason why one can attain success.” Shashikala Tiwari seems to be living a life of her own choosing, and that too with a great degree of satisfaction. This is evident from the way she carries herself – freely given to living in the present and with a mind that is tolerant, understanding and quite receptive.

It is not surprising to observe that the artist has a lot of composure and a good deal of equanimity. After all she has herself attained a great deal in her lifetime and so can well afford to be indulgent to the vagaries of fellow human beings  She has realized a string of successes in her preferred field, successes which include ‘Echo of Love’ (1982), ‘Harvest Leaves’ (1984), ‘Intimacy’ (1987), ‘My Earth And Sky’ (1992), and  ‘My Earth’ (1989) besides exhibitions already mentioned above. Shashikala’s talents, her devotion, and her consistent efforts have been well recognized. She has been the beneficiary of many awards, which, among others, have included Best Artist Award by NAFA in 1981 and 1984; Best Prize awarded by Rastriya Sirjanatmak Pariwar in 1984; Best Artist (Country-wise) in the International Art Exhibition in 1997; Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu in 2003; Shree Panch Birendra Aishwarya Padak ; Rastriya Vyakitwa Samman in 2003 and the Shree Panch Indra Rajya Laxmi Praganya Puraskar bestowed on her by the Royal Nepal Academy in 2002. The last mentioned has been specially memorable to the artist because she donated the full Rs.50000 prize money to conflict affected people in the country.

The svelte and petite artist wakes up most mornings at the ungodly hour of 3:30 AM and walks a couple of miles each day. She respects tradition and would like to see culture safeguarded. At the same time she is not particularly religious, in the sense that she is not up to following rituals as such and informs, “Neither me nor my brother are much for such things, we don’t even celebrate our birthdays”. From a professional angle, Shashikala Tiwari would like to see an increase in the numbers of art collectors within the country which would be what is needed to motivate and encourage the fine artists that Nepal is blessed with. Simultaneously, she is optimistic about the issue and admits, “I hear that there are people like Architects Deepak and Jyoti Sherchan, Som Prabha Shah Arzu Deuba, Madhuri Singh and the Pandeys (Prithvi Bahadur and Pratima) who have good  art collections. I hope such people’s number grows!”