Feb 04 Wednesday
ExhibitionTransformations: Lain Singh Bangdel, Art, NepalFebruary 4 – May 16 (closed March 15-22) Monday – Saturday 11 am – 4 pmAsian Arts Gallery, Center for the Arts, Towson University1 Fine Arts Drive, Towson, MD 21204
Explore the remarkable artistic journey and cultural legacy of Lain Singh Bangdel (1919–2002), widely regarded as the “Father of Modern Art” in Nepal. This collection of paintings—spanning the 1940s to the 1980s— reflects and reframes the cultural, political, and emotional realities of Bangdel’s time and traces his evolving vision as he navigated multiple worlds: colonial and postcolonial South Asia, cosmopolitan Europe, and an emerging modern Nepal.
Opening Reception & Curator TalkDr. Bibhakar Sunder Shakya: Lain Singh Bangdel and the Making of Modern Nepali ArtWednesday, February 4. 7:30 p.m.Asian Arts Gallery & Center for the Arts Atrium, Towson University1 Fine Arts Drive, Towson, MD 21204
Dr. Bibhakar Sunder Shakya, Founder and Chairman of the Bangdel & Shakya Foundation, will present the opening talk for Transformations: Lain Singh Bangdel, Art, Nepal, offering insights into Bangdel’s artistic journey and the vision behind the exhibition. As Bangdel’s son-in-law, Dr. Shakya first came to know him as a distinguished novelist before discovering the depth of his artistic genius. During his time at The Ohio State University, Dr. Shakya met and married Professor Dina Bangdel, the daughter of Bangdel, an esteemed art historian and curator whose scholarship helped redefine the study of Himalayan and South Asian art. Following Dina’s untimely passing in 2017, Dr. Shakya dedicated himself to preserving and sharing Bangdel’s legacy. Through exhibitions, publications, translations, and films, he has become a leading advocate for modern and contemporary Nepali art. His work has brought Bangdel’s story to audiences around the world, ensuring that Nepal’s modernist heritage is recognized as an essential part of global art history.
Feb 05 Thursday
This focus exhibition of 10 works explores the relationship between burning fossil fuels—namely, coal—and the emergence of European modernism. Drawing on research conducted by climate scientists and art historians, the exhibition presents a range of paintings and works on paper by Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, James McNeill Whistler, and others to explore the ways that their artistic practices and style emerged, in part, in response to widespread pollution in London and Paris.Presented as part of the Turn Again to the Earth environmental initiative.
In this focus exhibition of approximately 20 photographs, prints, drawings, and textiles, the natural environment is a source of creative inspiration worth celebrating and protecting.
Works by artists such as Winslow Homer, Richard Misrach, Charles Sheeler, and Kiki Smith, among many others, depict the elements of air, water, earth, and fire and address broader themes of ecological awareness and preservation. These themes range from how artists have used visual language to convey the act of locating oneself in nature; works that depict natural forms through the physical integration of environmental components; and artists’ commentary on sites of environmental disaster, the sociopolitical ramifications of human impact, and the potential of symbiotic healing for this planet and its occupants.
Feb 06 Friday
Feb 07 Saturday