Stone Pigment

Sudarshan Suwal comes from a family of artists. He began studying painting at age 12, receiving most of his training from his grandfather, a master of Newari Buddhist style of classical painting. His grandfather was a tantric practitioner, so Sudarshan’s education included instruction in meditation, mantra and visualization, as well as drawing, making pigments, and painting. He began by painting simple figures, like the Buddha, Ganesh and Saraswati, and eventually progressed to more complex subjects.

Classical paintings in the Newari tradition are called paubha, although they are more commonly known by their Tibetan name, thangkas. For centuries, thangkas were painted using natural pigments made from vegetable and mineral sources. With the recent popularity of chemical pigments, the classical tradition is in danger, as there are only a handful of artists painting today who use the classical techniques.

For many generations, Sudarshan’s family has carefully guarded the techniques for making mineral pigments: which minerals to use, how to select them, and how to prepare them for painting. That knowledge was considered sacred, to be handed down only within the family line. Only recently has Sudarshan begun to share the technique with outsiders. He has started teaching in the hope that sharing the knowledge will help to preserve the tradition. He is giving instruction only to students who are spiritual practitioners, as he believes that devotion to the dharma is essential for a thangka painter.

Sudarshan is recognized as one of the finest traditional painters in Nepal. He has won prizes in national competitions, and his work has been exhibited at solo shows in Nepal and in Denmark. In 2001, he was invited to teach at Sechen Monastery in Bhutan. He has worked on wall paintings in the Vasundhara Temple at Swayambhu. He also worked on decorative wall paintings for the set of Little Buddha.

Sudarshan was born in 1963 and grew up in the heart of Kathmandu, not far from Durbar Square. He learned a lot of his English from the hippies who visited Freak Street in the 1960’s and 70’s. He now lives and works in Patan.