I love attending art exhibitions. It’s a chance for me to indulge in my thoughts and, with a little luck, find my own perspectives within someone else’s artwork. It’s soothing. But this time, it was something different. I felt happy. The moment I entered the room where the exhibit was, vibrant colors immediately caught my attention. As I moved closer, intricate detailing on each and every canvas blew me away. It was the duet art exhibition, ‘Compatible Thoughts’, by Ishan Pariyar and Sabita Dangol, at Siddhartha Art Gallery at Babar Mahal Revisited in Kathmandu. All their paintings, for me, indicated the connection between two individuals in a romantic relationship. I felt that the artists wanted to project the compatibility they had with each other, thus the name, ‘Compatible thoughts’. I could be wrong, but we will get into that later. I noticed that most of these paintings were individual works, while some were duets. One could easily differentiate who had painted which one, as both artists had some signature techniques. Pariyar’s work was dominated by a particular shade of blue. “Most of my work even outside this exhibition has this same shade,” he says. Paintings with a lot of patterns and different colors belonged to Dangol. Some of her patterns, I believe, were inspired by Mithila art, and it was just beautiful to look at.

Now, coming back to if what I perceived was correct, it was. The married couple come from the same background. “We both are artists and we understand each other and our work like no one else,” says Pariyar. They conduct a duet exhibition every year on their wedding anniversary (Feb 3). This year, they had to delay it by a month but the exhibition’s main theme was to show the compatibility between the tw artists. “Although we are both artists, our style and techniques are different,” says Dangol, which they have tried to incorporate beautifully in their duet works.

While all of their works were admirable, the best, for me, was ‘Interfusion’, the star of this exhibition. The painting had two individuals, inside the yin and the yang. Undoubtedly, the individuals depicted in the painting were the two artists themselves. It almost seemed like the artists were trying to tell us that although they are two separate individuals, they were carrying a part of each other that made them whole. As I looked closer, I could see that they had tried to project their personalities through the patterns drawn on each others’ hair. “I’m into technical stuff, and she is mostly into nature,” says Pariyar. One has to visit the exhibition in order to truly understand what the artists are trying to project from their work. “We want the viewers to have their own perception while looking at our paintings,” adds Dangol. I believe their paintings are relatable to almost everyone. It’s heartfelt and emotional and it will be difficult not to think of your other half. All in all, it’s truly mesmerizing. The exhibition started on March 3 and will continue till March 31. Gallery hours for Sunday to Friday is from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, whereas on Saturday it’s open from noon to 5:00 pm