INDIGO GALLERY

After traveling for a year in India, I moved to Kathmandu in 1971, met the Italian artist, Piero Morandi, started a painting workshop, and began to meet artists. I was fortunate that included Siddhimuni Shakya, the most famous Newar painter of that period, who drew on deep immersion in the Buddhist tradition and stunningly precise brushwork, to create religious narrative paintings of singular beauty. He set my first standard for fine painting. Next I met the master bronze casters of Patan, Bodhi Raj Shakya, Jagatman Shakya and Manjoti Shakya whose evanescent waxworks and fiery processes engrossed me most of my adult life. These encounters led me to co-found Indigo Gallery in 1981, which became dedicated to fostering the Newar arts of metalcraft and painting.

The gallery’s aim was to develop contemporary traditional arts as fine as those found in international museum collections. By guaranteeing work at such high standards I hoped to re-direct collectors from the purchase of antique artworks that deplete Nepal of its cultural treasures and offer them instead a role in the 1500 year continuum of Nepal’s artistic tradition. By urging today’s Newar artists to develop their skills and even surpass those of their ancestors, Indigo contributed to improved income and living standards for these fine artists. The gallery became well known in Kathmandu Valley guidebooks and to collectors and Buddhist practitioners worldwide.