City and Temple 2 by Uma Shankar Shah

Kathmandu is believed to have been inhabited by various Gods and Goddesses who have now transformed themselves into stone images. Kathmandu, now, is an open museum, a city of temples where the artist feels spiritually tied to for his inspiration. Cityscapes incorporate various temples and traditional architecture found all over Kathmandu in a nighttime setting. The artist claims to be most creative during the night and he enjoys a nocturnal existence, painting well into the morning. It is probably because of this habit that moonlit nights that illuminate the cityscape of Kathmandu is portrayed in this painting. The restless pace of modern life in the fast-changing city of Kathmandu is a subject that the artist enjoys capturing in his canvases and prints. The placing together of the old temples in this painting provides a contrast to the now modernized Kathmandu.