Aicon is proud to present Forms and Foundations, the debut solo exhibition of Sneha Shrestha aka IMAGINE with the gallery. Upon moving to Boston from Kathmandu, Shrestha became immersed in the city’s dynamic graffiti scene. She adopted the moniker IMAGINE, the English translation of her mother’s name, and started experimenting with Devanagari script to create a unique visual language. Shrestha translated this vernacular from exterior walls onto studio-sized canvases and paper, resulting in the body of work on view in Forms and Foundations.
The “Nepali Alphabet” series directly references her 2018 sixty-foot-tall mural in Cambridge, MA, in both color and form. Shrestha’s signature combination of a deep blue background with striking orange lettering highlights the shape and beauty of the Devanagari script. The ability and, conversely, inability to read Nepali is a theme throughout Shrestha’s practice. In the present moment, the dominance of the English language has created the illusion of immediate and unimpeded global accessibility for those who speak it. In being confronted by a language and stylized script unaccompanied by a translation, viewers are invited to engage with written Nepali for its aesthetic qualities and as a doorway to understanding the narrative and visual language of a culture they may not be familiar with. Rather than settling into the unease of not knowing, the work encourages curiosity and conversation—an opening into culture that expands cultural competence and understanding.
Along with language, Shrestha’s immigration journey plays a significant role in her practice. The nine paintings from her “Celebration” series in this exhibition represent different immigration forms she needed to complete. Written in Devanagari letters and numbers, the text’s illegibility for most viewers protects the sensitive information required by the forms. The vibrant colors of these paintings are inspired by the garments worn by the artist’s mother during celebrations and holidays that Shrestha missed when she was unable to travel. By evoking these missed family celebrations, Shrestha draws attention to the personal sacrifices required by the immigration process. The “Devi” series is tied directly to Tihar, the Nepali festival of lights and colors, and the artist’s mother (Devi is her middle name). In these, the immigration forms echo the shape of shrines and gold decorations used during auspicious occasions.
Finally, in the “Home, too” series, the artist combines the material connection to Nepal through handmade paper and the soothing ritual of mantra-like repetition to emulate the familial feeling of home. To buy the paper, Shrestha must take narrow streets on the back of her father’s motorbike to an old part of Kathmandu. She brings the rolls of paper back to her new home, where she repetitively paints Nepali letters in a circle to form a mandala. In these works, Shrestha is interested in the geometry “where repetition becomes ritual, and ritual becomes meditation.”
In bringing together these series of works, the exhibition presents an understanding of the forms—both physical and bureaucratic—and foundations of Shrestha’s oeuvre. The artist roots her practice in the use of her language, culture, and family. According to Shrestha, these foundations “appear in the golds I use, the symbols I repeat, and the rhythm of my brushstrokes.” By centering herself on these building blocks, the artist is free to create new spaces and memories to encapsulate her co-existing identities. This experience of being one foot in two places is captured in the 2023 diptych Worlds Apart. Again, we see Shrestha using the forms of the Devanagari script to build the composition of the two canvases. Their asymmetry demonstrates the uniqueness of each place, and yet brushstrokes flow from one side to the other and off the edges of the canvas, mirroring ever-changing identity.
_________
Sneha Shrestha (aka IMAGINE) is a Nepali born artist who lives and works in Kathmandu and Boston. She became the first contemporary Nepali artist collected by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, when they acquired her painting Home416 (2020) in 2023. Her monumental sculpture, Calling the Earth to Witness, was commissioned by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, recently awarded Shrestha the prestigious James and Audrey Foster Prize. Her solo exhibit at the museum will run from August 25, 2025 through January 19, 2026. Her works are also found in the collections the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, the Worcester Art Museum, Google, Facebook, and Fidelity. Shrestha’s numerous public art projects include For Cambridge, With Love from Nepal (2018, Cambridge, MA), Protect What You Love (2020, East Boston, MA), Food for the Heart (2022, Long Beach, CA), Still Smiling (2022, Cincinnati, OH), and the forthcoming 2025 public sculpture About a Living Culture in partnership with the Rubin Museum of Art and New York City’s Department of Transportation. Shrestha holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University, where she is the Arts Program Manager for the Mittal South Asia Institute.
For more information and sales inquiries, email Hannah at hannah@aicongallery.com.
