4 ASIAN ART People


Untitled (2016), 1300 pieces of fabric, dimensions variable, each 25 x 1 x 1 cm. Photo: Nikolai Saoulski. Courstesy Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris


Bombay’s billboards, which I have captured on camera, and for me, these are simple, minimal ‘found’ paintings or gestures.


AAN: Do you then paint on these photographs? MN: No. I leave them as they are. Also, I do not use the computer to manipulate the image. Tere is a long history of billboards in India and those are old billboards where you can see a little bit of painting on it. All billboards were completed by local painters. Tey always break and create a new billboard structure so that is why it is always going up and down and looks like a painting. Tese billboards are huge, about 30 metres long. Tey are in the city, as well as in the suburbs, and even further out of town. Whenever they are changing to put up a new advertisement, I go in between and document the structure. It is a simple photograph where I crop the background. It is the same procedure for all my billboard series. To me, it is a most interesting process.


AAN: If you were to describe your practice, do you consider yourself primarily a painter, sculptor, an installation artist, or a photographer? What is the driving force in your practice, or do they all complement each other? MN: All these aspects within my practice are always connected. Te main link between all media is abstraction which is the driving force whether working with painting, sculpture or photography. For example, painting is connected with sculpture. When you see my painting, it


always features an abstract sculptural form that is visible. Now, abstraction is also coming out in my photographs. Abstraction is common everywhere, whatever medium I use.


AAN: Do you work simultaneously in all these media?


MN: In both essays for the past solo exhibitions, the writers have mentioned a connection with Arte Povera. Until then, I did not know about this because I do not read a lot. I recently started my art-history course, but retrospectively, I think it was good that I was unaware of this group and information beforehand otherwise there is always the fear that one is copying. Until these catalogue essays were written, I did not make any connection with this work. However, I am not really concerned about it because the material came from my home, so I had no idea that it had been used in Europe or in America. Today, I do know about it, but at the time I started, I did not.


AAN: Are you looking at any new materials to explore? MN: I am aware that all fellow artists tend to explore new materials. Right now, I am experimenting with a new material, but until I have reached a certain level, I do not want to talk too much about it. From what my friends who are stopping by are telling me, I am making progress which is the most important thing to me.


Untitled (2017), detail, used clothes and wood, 400 pieces, each 213 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm


MN: Yes I do. I am a multi-task artist and I like my work. My paintings and sculptures are quite labour-intensive and take a long time, involving many people. On the other hand, there are other things which can only be done by myself and I can devote my time to it, while the mould, for example, is being produced by carpenters.


AAN: For the paintings involving newspapers, how are they compressed? MN: We have so many newspapers in India! We have 70 national languages and more than 100 newspapers that come out every day in so many different languages. Consequently, one same story can be read differently, all the more as we have so many political or religious views that all present their side of the story. I try to compress all of them together,


creating my own language which can then be read. In addition, the process involved in creating the work is interesting: when you pour the newspapers in water, the ink being so temporary it soaks away. Terefore, many things are washed out – similarly to our politicians who make a lot of promises! Te work is


are quite labour- intensive and


My paintings and sculptures


take a long time


about compressing language and time, as well as hiding information.


AAN: You manage to bring together ideas and beliefs under one roof that in real life would never come together. It seems an excellent metaphor on many levels. MN: As the promises are never fulfilled, they disappear like temporary ink.


AAN: You mentioned earlier that some people were comparing your work to the Arte Povera movement. Is that an association you yourself agree with ?


AAN: Are there any artists besides Pollock and Rothko that have had an impact on your practice? MN: Tere are many artists and it is a long list, but not necessarily in terms of influence. Sometimes, I like Rothko’s dark flatness, but I also like Pollock’s style of working which is very physical. I like Gerhard Richter, especially how he went from figuration to abstraction. I like Anselm Kiefer, I like the scale of Richard Serra. Looking at their work, I see how these artists move within painting and how they keep it alive. Among the painters from India, I like a few masters like Gaitonde who is one of my favourites.


AAN: In 2016, you won the Prudential Eye Award for Best Emerging Artist using painting. Has that changed many things for you? MN: It brought tremendous exposure. Tey selected a few artists from Greater Asia and the fact that I won is excellent for my country and for my city, Bombay. Although I was selected on the basis of my paintings which they had asked me to send, I forwarded my photographs which prompted a very healthy discussion about how artists today think about painting.


AAN: You remain devoted to painting and you are also very active on social media. MN: Te best way I can answer is that I constantly ‘think painting’: I quickly connect with my surroundings, whatever is around me. I constantly post images of my work on social media like Facebook or Instagram. It makes me alive and I can see how people respond to it which is very interesting. Most of the time, I am on Instagram, because it is always based on photography and there is no critical discussion –your image is simply posted. I do not care how people react to it, but somehow it gives you the opportunity to connect with them. Also, it gives an idea of where you are, where you are going, what your city and its surroundings are like. I take some photographs of the backside of trucks, of how the labour works with the priority to give a feel and an indication of Bombay.


Digits XIV (2016), from the Billboard series, digital archive print size 91.4 x 180.3 , ed 1/3. Photo: Nikolai Saoulski. Courstesy Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris


ASIAN ART SUMMER QUARTER 2017


AAN: Regarding the clothes sculptures, is the work based on


found clothes, or on family clothes? MN: Te clothes I use in the sculptures are not found clothes, but family clothes. After working with jute, I was searching for a medium. Ten, I realised I could compress and create a pattern with a result that I found very exciting. Newspapers and clothes are both materials I could find at home. My mother was collecting used clothes which she kept in a room as in India, people gather clothes to exchange them for new ones which is an old tradition we have. Once I saw she had lots of clothes so I started a small sculpture. I really liked that idea and saw the possibilities of it. Later, I began experimenting with different sizes and it works extremely well. By looking at the sculpture, one can see the lifestyle of a middle-class family. I can say it is my family portrait, a family album or a collective portrait. As I have done numerous works, I presently have to get additional clothes from other family members. Clothes always have a memory and it is this memory that I am compressing into a cubicle.


AAN: You have been working with newspapers, cardboard, clothes, jute. What are the possibilities for aluminium for you? MN: It is a very interesting question. I have worked with softer media, but I also want to try a harder material as well. I started with metal first, then, I thought I needed something a little softer like aluminium. We manually created circular forms and then, we also created a metal dye. Tat was subsequently undergoing a hydraulic compression which is basically compression, but with a great amount of power. I very rarely rely on aluminium because it is very expensive.


AAN: But then, you would have the option for sculptures that people could leave outdoors which is not possible with clothes … MN: Te new work can remain outdoors. I have been experimenting with this for the past two years. I wanted to do something where I could come out of the studio, that I could do in stone, concrete or metal. I am planning to make a large-scale work in some metal, or aluminium, outdoors. It takes time, but I would love to do it as I have been doing lots of drawings based on possible outdoor works.


AAN: Do you continue drawing? MN: Drawing is very important to me: it is preliminary to what comes next. Drawing makes you sharper and in my opinion, it gives you a lot of freedom without thinking. It is an excellent place to start.


AAN: Your practice is very much attached to your city. Are you also trying to capture an atmosphere and what goes on in the city possibly through video, for example? MN: Right now, I am not thinking about it because I see the tremendous possibilities in wall work even though people tend to go away from the wall. I want to stick with still visuals which will move you. I am interested in creating a movement through the stills and I see a lot of potential. I have brought that idea to life through my latest work, the mesh paintings. Tere is a movement in it with a visual that changes whilst you walk, but at the same time it is quite abstract, complying with my initial ongoing interest in abstraction. • Manish Nai’s work is on view near Basel, Switzerland at the Fondation Fernet-Branca, 2, rue du Ballon, 68300 Saint-Louis, France, from 14 June to 8 October


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