People ASIAN ART 3


graduated that painting was declared dead


I remember when I


AAN: Generally, do you dye the material beforehand? MN: Yes, the material is pre-dyed. I usually go to Calcutta to get it dyed. It is a very interesting process.


AAN: Is there a special way that you achieve various colours? MN: Initially, I started with lots of colours as the canvas has always been my palette. Ten, I became interested in learning about one colour with the idea to achieve a certain oneness, flatness, whiteness and blankness. Presently, I simply do not want to see too many things around.


Untitled (2017), mesh and mild steel, 182 x 365.7 cm, (triptych)


aware of all the material available at home and suddenly realised that I somehow had to use it in conjunction with my art.


AAN: Initially, were you using the material in the view of creating a sculpture, an installation, or a painting ? MN: I started with painting, mainly because my teacher used to show us abstract artists like Rothko and Pollock as a reference and most of these artists had worked on canvas. However, when trying to work spontaneously in this way, at a certain point, it ends up being very similar to what other artists have already done. I was consistently thinking about how I could do something different from them. Ten, I started using a surface – jute – which they probably had not been using. It is only later that I realised that many artists had used this material, especially within the Arte Povera movement. Back then, I was completely unaware of it, all the more so as everything started very spontaneously within my practice.


AAN: It seems very challenging to use jute as a flat surface to paint on, is it hard? MN: It is indeed a very rough surface and it is difficult to paint on it. Initially, I was facing some problems with the surface as my


brush was not moving smoothly over the canvas. Consequently, I pasted some tracing paper with glue on the jute, a type of paper which is frequently used by architects for their drawings. Pasting this paper is almost like using a transfer. I can see through the jute and therefore, I can paint very smoothly. Tat ‘compromise’ allowed me to keep jute as my medium while proceeding with my painting.


AAN: It is comforting that young artists like yourself are convinced that there is still something new to be done in painting in order to keep it alive. MN: I think it has always been alive, but you have to think about how to keep it alive in this day and age. I remember when I graduated, painting was declared ‘dead’ and installation and video or performance were the centre of attention. Of course, I was concerned about how to carry on as within painting, only figurative painting seemed to be appreciated while I happened to be drawn to abstraction.


AAN: As you managed to find a solution to paint directly on jute, how did the mould get into your practice as you could have gone on for years gluing tracing paper and paint on jute? MN: It was a slow process with


Untitled III (2017), aluminium, 121.9 x 121.9 x 7.6 cm


several stages that led me to use a mould as initially, I repeated the same process, over and over again, by painting with watercolour which is very immediate. Ten, I began to wonder what to do next and how I could carry on. Tere came a moment when I realised that if I pulled out threads from the jute, I could create my own patterns. I began storing these threads in a box with the idea to reuse them at a later date. I once opened it and saw that the thread had taken the shape of the box. Tat is how I understood that by compressing jute thread, there was a possibility to create a sculpture from it. In a way, my negative became a positive. Ten, little by little, I compressed jute with glue. At the same time, I also explored other materials like used clothes, newspapers, and cardboard which are also easily available at home.


Untitled III (2016) natural jute cloth, wood, 137 x 99 x 5 cm. Photo: Nikolai Saoulski. Courstesy Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris


AAN: Did you build the mould ? MN: It is a basic wooden mould. As I am not a sculptor, I started with a simple shape, emphasising the square and the circle, which I really enjoy. Te mould, per se, is not complicated and I work with carpenters who can create it for me. It is a process that is much more straight forward than the one a sculptor has to go through, creating a mould and then casting it. I create the shape which is then being built accordingly.


Digits XXIII (2016), from the Billboard series, Lucia pigment on Hahnemuhle paper, 22 x 55.45 in


AAN: Using the mould, do you have any influence on the final shape that the content takes? MN: For the sculpture, it is what I would call a ‘dark studio process’, similarly to when taking a photograph that only becomes properly visible in a dark room. In my sculpture, only when opening the mould do I see the results. It is a completely blind process, consequently, there is always an element of surprise. When I open the mould, the material is still a little wet, only allowing me to change minor things, but that happens very rarely. However, I need to emphasise that this type of sculpture also involves a lot of pain as it requires some physical work in order to be completed.


AAN: Blue is a colour that is recurrent and comes back in various forms in your work. In your opinion, is there a lot to explore within this colour? MN: In 2010, I started my jute paintings and in 2012, I began my sculptures. I always work without information: although indigo for example has a long history, I want to make abstraction from that. I have completed some colourful pieces, but I thought I should work with less colours – basically with just one colour – which most of the time ended up being black or blue.


AAN: Even with one colour, the positive and negative come out well between the volume and the surface. MN: For me, oneness and togetherness are very important. In that sense, what I want to achieve is sometimes only possible in one colour.


AAN: Troughout your career, you have been documenting things that you saw in the city through photographs which has led to your ongoing Billboard series. MN: For now, photography is just a medium. Since the beginning, there have always been two main sources of inspiration: home and the city. Te city of Bombay (Mumbai) is extremely inspiring: there is a lot of dust, pollution combined with huge crowds. In this high-volume city, I try to identify and see some blankness. I search this minimalistic gesture. I carefully observe walls and other surfaces both indoors and outside. It interests me how Bombay is a parallel site of development and decay. People are compressed into train compartments, and within their homes. Te noise, dust and pollution levels are high with intense impulses everywhere. Te environment controls all our senses. While travelling by road you see billboards everywhere. Blank billboards work for me as sound controller within this enormous, sprawling city. Rather than working in oil on canvas, or watercolour on paper, I have attempted to recreate the idea of painting and allude to the history of abstraction through the delicate variations on blankness I found on


Continued on page 4 SUMMER QUARTER 2017 ASIAN ART


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