Beauty of life in colours

Shivangini Rana, a young self-taught abstract artist says, “There is no such thing as a good or a bad artwork. They are all subjective.”

Rana, who started painting professionally around five years back, says the inspiration to do so after having been involved in the hospitality business for a long period of time came from her family.

She explains, “I got inspired from my mother who used to do these beautiful gloss paintings. Even my grandfather and father used to paint. While we have a lot of artists in our family, I am the only one who took it professionally.”

Her first solo show in Kathmandu is currently on display at Siddhartha Art Gallery at Baber Mahal Revisited.

Talking about Rana’s paintings, Sangeeta Thapa, founder director of Siddhartha Art Gallery, says, “Shivangini’s paintings are very colourful and bright. Over the years, I have seen her get better as an artist. I believe, despite her being self-taught, she is as good as any professional who has received formal training.”

Over the 35 years of being in service, Siddhartha Art Gallery has been showcasing the works of many young upcoming artists. And now they are showcasing Rana’s colourful work.

Working on her collection during the lockdown, Rana explains how much she needed inspiration to work and how hard it was for her to be locked up inside for so long.

Most of her works have a heavy tinge of the black shade but are very vibrant and colourful.

Rana says, “My favourite colour is black and all of the paintings consist of the colour in some form. And even in life, we have always had a basic colour we identify ourselves with.”

“It was and still is a very hard time for all of us, but looking at my own work I feel like ‘if I, myself can get inspired by my paintings then hopefully others will feel the same way too’,” adds Rana.

Naming the collection ‘Bold and Beautiful’, very vibrant, colourful and mixed media paintings, she has included 6 series, ‘Peacock’, ‘Garden of Eve’, ‘Butterflies’, ‘Desert Rose’, ‘Winter Rose’, and ‘Jewels’.

Talking of her evolving journey as an artist, Rana explains that her paintings are conceptualised through her emotions and experiences.

When asked if she has any plans to study art academically, she says, “Art is my passion and I feel like my work is very expressive. If there is a chance, I would surely love to learn, but till now I have evolved a lot not only as a painter but as a person too. And I believe art is not something you learn, it is something that gets better with time. And as history stands proof, many great artists in the past were self-taught.”

As a young artist herself, Rana says young artists need to start being vocal and share their work with the world to learn and get better. Before the exhibition, she shared her work through social media and also has her own website called, www.sranaart.com.