In Kapil Mani Dixit’s paintings, eyes leave the face and move across the body. Holding Myself, The Eye Beneath the Skin and She Sees Everything explore self-embrace, hidden awareness and outward vision. Here, the body is more than something seen. It watches, remembers and returns our gaze.

Kapil Mani Dixit approaches the human figure as a “humanscape,” allowing anatomy to shift according to emotion. Bodies bend, limbs overlap and eyes appear beyond the face. What looks like distortion is often the point at which an inner experience becomes visible.

Eyes gained particular importance in his work during the Covid pandemic. With faces covered by masks, Dixit observed fear and uncertainty becoming more legible through the gaze. The eye became more than a physical feature. It could witness, question, protect and reveal.

Working through bold lines, restrained colour and intuitive gestures, Dixit creates figures that feel remembered rather than precisely recorded. His bodies are not ideal forms. They are places where vulnerability, instinct and awareness take shape.

In Holding Myself, red and white figures overlap until two bodies may also be read as two states within one person. The embrace holds comfort and tension together, while additional eyes keep the figures alert.

The work leaves us with an intimate question: which part of the self needs support, and which part provides it?

Holding Myself, 2020 · Kapil Mani Dixit

The Eye Beneath the Skin presents a body that is exposed yet emotionally guarded. As the figure folds inward, a second eye remains alert. It suggests an awareness that exists beneath appearance, perhaps as intuition, memory or something not yet expressed.

The painting asks whether seeing a person is the same as knowing them.

The Eye Beneath the Skin, 2022 · Kapil Mani Dixit

In She Sees Everything, vision extends beyond the face. Disembodied eyes, crows and clouds surround a commanding red figure who appears to observe several realities at once.

She is not waiting to be examined. She controls the gaze, placing the viewer inside her field of awareness without revealing what she knows.

She Sees Everything, 2020 · Kapil Mani Dixit

Kapil Mani Dixit has spent nearly three decades exploring the human figure. Inspired by his father’s drawings, he studied fine art at the University of Texas at Arlington before returning to Kathmandu in 2008.

His focus moved from landscape to what he calls the “humanscape.” Painting from memory allows anatomy to follow emotion. Limbs stretch, proportions shift and imperfections remain visible. For Dixit, the body is where inner experience takes form.

→ Explore the complete Kapil Mani Dixit presentation on Gallerria