The Universe Within: Art by Govinda Sah 'Azad'

The Tibet House presents Govinda's early paintings featuring the figure in a Himalayan landscape, an element that came to inspire his visual explorations of cloud formations as symbols of creation, fertility, and heaven.

Rooted in the Hindu-Tibetan traditions of Nepal, Govinda’s early paintings include the images of gods represented in religious devotional painting and sculpture. His earlier work presents the figure in a Himalayan landscape, an element that came to inspire his visual explorations of cloud formations as symbols of creation, fertility, and heaven.

Govinda’s practice provides insight into intergalactic fields and occurrences of cosmic creation. Referencing the Buddhist philosophy of inversion, he holds that the closer we study the macrocosm beyond, the greater our awareness of the microcosm that is within ourselves. His paintings represent the mysterious worlds of these inner microcosms, as well as forces of creative energy and the infinite nature of space. Using movement and energy to visualize concepts including mortality, spirituality, and the sublime, he urges his audience to look beyond the realm of basic understanding.

Born in 1974 in Rajbiraj, Nepal, Govinda earned a BFA from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu in 2003. He received an MFA in painting from the University of Development Alternative, Bangladesh in 2005, and an MFA in painting from Wimbledon College of Art, London in 2008. His work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions internationally; this is his first solo show in America. Govinda lives and works in London.

Click here to read the review -  Stephen E. Noerper, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, The Korea Society
Click here to view Govinda's page on October Gallery

Awards:

• Short listed for John Moores Contemporary Painting Award, UK, 2010
• Best Young Artist, 7th Bangladesh International Artist Awards, Bangladesh, 2006
• 23rd place, Beppu Art Biennale, Beppu Museum, Japan, 2004
• First Talent award, International Leo youth camp, Biratnagar, Nepal, 2003
• Third position in National poster competition, organized by Ministry of Environment and Population and NAFA, 1998
• Second place in district competition organized by district education center, Nepal, 1990
• First place in district competition organized by district education center, Nepal, 1988

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

• Transcriptions, October Gallery, London, February 26 – March 26, 2011
• No Edge No Centre: Mix Media Painting, The Muse Gallery, London, September 28 – October 17, 2011
• Pighalta Satya, Global Gallery Café, Reading International Solidarity Centre, (RISC), Reading, UK. July 5 – July 30, 2010
• Unfold Invention, Siddhartha Gallery, Kathmandu, Nepal, November 8 – November 30, 2009
• Meditating the Abstract, Asia House, London, July 15 – September 30, 2009
• Pillars of Hope: Ashaka Khambaharu, The Siddhartha Art Gallery, June 2006, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Peace through Painting, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, National Art Gallery, 2004
• Painting for Peace, Presented by the British Council, Nepal, 2003

Selected Group Exhibitions:

• Himalayan Festival, Nehru Centre, Mayfair, London, February 2010
• N-everland, The Nunnery, Bow Artist Trust, London, December 2009
• Separating Myth from Reality: State of Women, International Art Festival, Kathmandu, October 2009
• Apocalypse Now, Red Wire Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK, August 23 – September, 2009
• The Cloud, Saltburn Artists Project, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, UK, February 6 – March 8, 2009