About
Jyoti is a man of many talents, whose art reflects a keen interest in the socio-political field of Nepal. Born in 1979, as a youth he played volleyball for the Nepali national team. His family comes from the Nawalparasi region of the country, close to the historic hill town of Tansen. By any standards, he comes from a rural once-remote region, but his parents never put any pressure on him to deter him from becoming an artist. As a boy he recalls playing the flute and drawing, such that his friends and family encouraged him to study Fine Arts. It was a challenge for a 16-year boy to leave his family and go alone to the ‘big city’ of Kathmandu to develop his talents. He currently works as a lecturer at Tribhuvan University in the Centre for Fine Arts, helping to develop the talents of the next generations of Nepali artists. Jyoti and his peers are deeply engaged in developing fine arts courses for their enthusiastic students, including establishing Ph.D. courses.
Jyoti has an amazing imagination that he uses vividly and with some thought-provoking themes to portray the contemporary political and social aspects of the day. His formal studies took him through Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. His love of art is mixed in almost equal measure by his passion for music. He sees no conflict between art and music; in fact many artists feel that each compliments the other. Jyoti feels that art is like a tree with the branches reaching out in different forms – sculpture, music, painting and poetry.
Following the 2015 earthquakes, he was driven to work on around 25 paintings that reflected on those events. One 7.8m-long painting (marking the 7.8 Richter scale magnitude) is a masterful attempt to recall the tragic aspects of the earthquakes. During recent lockdowns, he again felt inspired to work on various paintings expressing heartfelt themes. His MASKISM image is a classic, with other ‘political statement’ paintings that are quite likely to provoke comment and perhaps controversy. Jyoti generally seeks to confront the viewer with socio-political themes, social injustices and issues of the day, exploring the philosophical aspects of life through his work. It is clear that he has a deep concern for humanity and seeks through his art and music to confront the causes of injustices.
Look for his work at the MoNA museum and you too will question and confront his social themes
Awards
Exhibitions
Contact
Works
