Curatorial Text by Sujan Chitrakar for
Samaahit | Abstract Paintings | Nabendra Limbu
He was painting a strange still life in a corner of a sculpture studio when I first noticed him. I felt compelled to share our tutor’s hint with him: the bigger the object being drawn, the better the composition. He gave a blunt reply: ‘I am not interested in the object itself – I am contemplating the negative space around it.’ I was taken aback a bit – who knew if this young man was an eccentric or a genius? I quietly went back to my own work. It was the early 1990s; Nabendra Limbu and I were first-year students at the Lalitkala Campus.

In late 1980s, the Bollyhood cinemas of 1950s and 60s introduced me to this paradise on earth during my early teens. Since then, Kashmir was imprinted in me as the most scenic and serene location on earth with the imagery of houseboats on Dal lake, snowcapped mountains, the unimaginably exotic valleys and the charming people.