Chandra Chaudhury

Chandra Chaudhury works in the Bagh Bazaar section of Kathmandu.

I first met Chandra on my first Danger Dog trip in June, 2007. He was young and cute and had loads of friends crowded about.

He also was chronically late with his work, which is not uncommon, and his stuff had a nice folk art quality that I enjoy. His Dogs have a lot of character. Chandra’s proportions are all over the place, but the eyes have soul.

Surya recommended him again in 2009 when the artists were overwhelmed with orders, so I had Chandra make some of my favorites.

Chandra signs his pieces on the bottom right in a modified double C that reminds me of Chanel’s logo. The more naive artists (Punam, Hari Timsina, and Chandra) tend to always sign their pieces — more so than the more realistic painters, though Chandra’s early works were signed on the reverse only.

The cat (below middle) is in reality a 3-legged cat. Chandra managed to make it a 2-legged cat!  Some of Chandra’s art reminds me of Lee Godey’s work. These are definitely ‘outsider’.