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| Thangka
is a traditional painting closely related with Buddhism.
A thangka can take anywhere from a month to years to be
completed. The painting surface is often cotton cloth
and brushes are used. Often mounted or framed, thangkas
are also sewn onto a special Tibetan cloth. Thangkas have
religious significance and are believed to influence the
surroundings. The exhibition is also on display on the
internet at www.spinybabbler.org,
the online museum of the Spiny Babbler. |
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Lord
Buddha Thangka Art Multipurpose Cooperative Society, in association
with Spiny Babbler, is holding an exhibition of thangka paintings
at Hotel de L' Annapurna, Durbar Marg. This
is the very first exhibition of thangkas that the Society has put
up, the society has been operating for only an year now but the
members have been in the thangka trade for more than a decade.
The
display holds a hundred thangka pieces ranging anywhere from Rs.
200 to two lakhs. Thangkas are intricate works of art that usually
tell a story or have a deep insightful meaning. The colors differ
from the most vibrant to those verging on mundane but mundane is
something that a thangka can never be.
"Thangkas
have a religious significance. People worship thangkas because they
are believed to bring one luck or wealth or good health," says
Rachana Lama, thangka artist and member of the society, "They
are very complicated."
"To
understand a thangka, one must already have knowledge of the stories
that it is based on: like that of the life of Buddha, a subject
of many thangkas," explains Jit Bahadur Lama, managing director
of Lord Buddha Thangka Art Multipurpose Cooperative Society.
Despite
the decline in the tourism industry, thangka artists have not lost
their zeal. "Our main customers were tourists visiting our
country. The sudden lull that the tourism industry is experiencing
has, of course, affected us. But even among the locals, especially
the Lamas, the thangka is still in demand," informs Lal Man
Lama, a thangka artist who has been painting for 29 years now.
Thangka
is a trade that nearly all Lama children taught from a very young
age, often 10 or 12. Lalu Maya Lama, a 15-year-old, kneels in front
of her canvas: slowly working on her latest thangka, "It is
not difficult. I learned this art when I was 12. But it does take
a long time." Lalu Maya sits there amongst the thangkas on
the walls so visitors can see how a thangka is made.
The
thangka coloring technique is also special and different from any
other. Real gold is used to specify fire and it also makes a work
more attractive. The more gold is used, the more expensive a thangka
becomes. A thangka uses the help of mandalas, lotuses, and the Buddhist
religious symbols to tell its stories…
"We
can also paint works to order," Rachana further volunteers,
"Some people come to us and ask us to make a thangka out of
their life history. We can make a thangka that tells the story of
your life, depicting the places you have been, things you have done,
the most poignant moments of your life, and the dreams you have
seen." The exhibition at Hotel de L' Annapurna will continue
until March 26.
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