– Chirag Bangdel (Writer and artist)
KK Karmacharya is versatile. He paints portraits, figures and abstract compositions with equal ease. He has designed postal stamps since 1967 and has been awarded for his endeavors.
But when Karmacharya was a child, no one would have guessed that one day he would become an established artist. He was born on 20th March 1948 in Kathmandu to a family that struggled financially. But Karmacharya had a fun filled childhood and admits that he was very mischievous. As a result, he was infamous in the neighborhood but people appreciated for his artistic talents. The artist recalls that he always drew and painted as a child. When he could not find paper, he would paint on walls.
As a child, Karmacharya showed little interest in his studies but when he was ten, one of his neighbors saw his artistic potential and took him to Nepal Art School for admission. The school regulations required a student to be at least twelve years old to enroll, so Karmacharya was not granted admission. But the kindly neighbor pleaded with the principal insisting that all the young artist wanted to do was draw and paint. Eventually, the Principal relented and let him come to school without a formal admission. Soon his teachers realized that the child was indeed very talented and so in the following year he was admitted at the age of eleven though the admission form read twelve. Nepal Art School focused primarily on arts and very soon his parents realized that all their son was doing was drawing and painting. Today people still ponder over the financial stability of anyone pursuing the arts.
After a few years at the art school Karmacharya was shifted to a regular school. The young artist’s studies suffered and soon the parents admitted their mistake and sent him back to the art school. But in the mean time Karmacharya had lost a few years. Eventually he finished his academic education of Kala Pravin from Nepal Art School in 1965.
The artist had always been painting portraits, landscapes and figures but he soon realized that however well he painted these, he would only be replicating what he saw. Like most artists who venture into abstract expressionism, Karmacharya wanted to create and not duplicate in the process of painting. Hence, he started to work on new forms of expression. The artist was once playing and trying to make a paper toy when he noticed that paper could be used as a medium and that he could work on it. Later Karmacharya worked on a series of semi figurative compositions with collage on canvas. He had not till then heard about Matisse’s “gouache decoupee” or Picasso’s collage experiments on cubism. Picasso pasted newspaper on his still life to sarcastically state that if he could have the real thing on his work why take the trouble of duplicating? Perhaps this feeling was what got into Karmacharya to create almost three dimensional art work.
The artist had his first solo exhibition in 1971 at the NAFA (National Association of Fine Arts) gallery. His works were mostly dominated by collage. But this was 1971 and the general public had not yet acquired a taste for modern art. The artist got a mixed response and he continued to create non-subjective collage art works.
As a critic I also enjoy the artist’s realistic and figurative compositions. There is a series where he uses a knife to create landscapes and figures where he implements a very refreshing palett of emerald greens, cerulean blues and other almost tangy volora-very soft paintings. Also fluent with waters colors, the artist has also always painted in the medium.
But perhaps at the moment K.K. Karmacharya is proudest of his abstract paintings that speak for themselves. Unlike other abstract expressionists who paint a stroke to follow a stroke and color to follow a color, Karmacharya tells me that he has a defined palette in his mind and also almost a form in his subconscious. His paintings sometimes look like abstract representation of landscapes but he tells me that they are not. They are but abstract paintings painted with emotions and that are abstract.
The artist has also been actively involved with the Nepal Postal System and has designed 393 stamps. He has received several awards in the process. He has also worked on 15 books for children as an illustrative artist. Karmacharya has received many awards which include the prestigious Gorkha Dakshin Bhahu in 1989. He has had major wolo and group exhibitions in and out of the country. At the moment the srtists is excited about a solo exhibition in Seol, South Korea. For his exhibition, he has created a series of small but beautiful water colors. The works are based on culture, landscapes and people of the country.
“When I exhibit abroad, I need to promote Nepali elements.” Karmacharya smiles proudly.