Painting gives me utmost joy: Amrit Dangol

By Renuka Dhakal,Kathmandu, Dec. 16: Artist Amrit Dangol is an epitome of art. His dedication, adoration and tireless effort are reflected in every piece of art he creates. He spent seven years to make a Paubha painting of ‘Shree Trikulnath’. In this painting, he has made more than 40 Buddhist deities in full detail. The painting is made in 4/6 canvass.

He said that he did not use to wear spectacles before starting the painting, but he had to wear them after he finished the painting. “Paubha art that carries great stories is a painting associated with religion; it conveys the essence of the religion and the deities. That’s why to justify the stories of Paubha art, it takes both time and patience,” said Dangol.  

Paubha is a traditional religious painting. It depicts deities, mandalas or monuments, and is used to help the practitioners in meditation. Dangol was born at Bhotebahal, in Kathmandu. He started sketching Gods and Goddesses and cartoons at the age of five.   

Later, seeing the artwork of Govinda Dangol, son of his maternal uncle, he became fascinated by the Paubha arts. He studied basic art with Govinda and learned colour combination with Bijaya Sarg for four years. He also learned the technical aspects of painting with KK Karmacharya, now Chancellor of Nepal Academy of Fine Arts. 

He also studied art at Nepal Academy of Fine Arts, but he rarely went to college, instead preferred to stay at home and make paintings all day. He sold his painting for the first time in 1993 at Rs. 950. “Rs. 950 was a big amount for me, and it inspired me to learn more painting,” he said

 He has been painting continuously for over three decades. Over the years, he has created hundreds of paintings. But he did not document them and feels sorry for that.  “I sold all the paintings I made and I could not keep some of them as records.”

Studying religion is needed to become a Paubha artist. Dangol studied ‘Mudra’ and ‘Buddhism’ from Sridhar Samsher J B Rana (Rinpoche) for four years. Rana is a Guru who became a Rinpoche after practicing meditation for 20 years inside a room.

Dangol is not active and enthusiastic for publicity. Instead, he devotes more time to painting. “I believe in work than in publicity,” he said. Currently, he is painting a picture of Goddess Kaumari, combining with ‘Ashta Matrika’.

 He started painting Kaumari in June this year and plans to finish it by January next year. In this painting, he has made ‘Bashundhara’ at the base and ‘Kaumari’ in the centre, which reflects energy, and ‘Mahalaxmi’, a symbol of prosperity, above Kaumari.

“If we do something focusing on base, energy and prosperity, life will be filled with happiness and my current painting also indicates these aspects of dimension,” he said. Dangol spends eight hours  in painting every day.

  «I am a person who enjoys painting more than anything and it gives me peace and relief.  Painting gives me an utmost level of happiness and joy. I do not like to go out, because I like to immerse myself in the ocean of painting,” he said. 

“At first, my family tried to persuade me to do other works but I stuck to painting and resulted to be the best decision of my life. My only job is painting and the earnings from painting are enough to support my family.”

Painting has many faculties. An art enthusiast should learn design, colour combination, line, drawing of all parts of the body, and setting, he said. According to him, learning Paubha art takes a lot of time and devotion.

If an artist has done such a work in other countries, the government gives great value to artists, but in Nepal, the government has not done much to promote the art sector and encourage the artists, he said, adding that making Paubha art requires high passion and skill to work on details in depth.

 ‘Thanka’ painting is completely related to Buddhism while Paubha is a mixture of both Hinduism and Buddhism. An artist is also a great reader and researcher because in order to create a Paubha art, one needs to know about the respective religion and the essence of the related God or religion, said Dangol.

Art gives everything--knowledge, wisdom, and joy. He has participated in more than 20 group exhibitions and is also planning to have a solo exhibition. His paintings are kept in the museums of Japan, America and other countries. “The ultimate goal of humans is happiness and painting has given me the utmost level of joy,” he said.