Drawing Room: Why Harsha Durugadda loves Manish Nai’s installations
Manish Nai turns rusty metal sheets, butter paper and newsprint into textured collages. Nothing is quite what it seems
I’m fascinated with the way multidisciplinary artist Manish Nai works with materials. They are so familiar yet so unique in the way he chooses to use them.
Nai hails from a family of jute traders, and jute was Nai’s material of choice when he started out as an artist. In some early works, he would remove threads from woven jute fabric and use the remainder innovatively by mixing it with paint and tracing paper to make collages. Jute, which is commonly available throughout India, lent itself well to these works both for its cultural significance and layered texture. He was fascinated by regional-language newspapers too, and has worked extensively with newsprint. It became the starting point of his focus on found objects.
The first time I saw Nai’s work was at Bikaner House in Delhi in 2021, at a group show organised by Nature Morte gallery. There, he covered large wooden poles with waste fabric that had been compressed under extreme pressure using a hydraulic press. These were displayed leaning against a wall, making good use of the high ceilings. It played well to the architecture of the space.
However, the series I would like to speak about is Surfacing, Nai’s solo show at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke in Mumbai last year. I was drawn to the pieces he made using found objects such as corrugated steel panels, butter paper, discarded flyscreens, plastic netting and more from the streets of Mumbai. The corrugated sheets were covered in rust. There were holes where screws had been drilled in. Some pieces, originally painted in bright colours, showed signs of wear and corrosion. Nai had assembled these sheets of different sizes and colours, making them seem like large paintings.
Other works used butter paper on natural jute, creating textured collages, and netting as the backdrop for his paintings. These striking and varying surfaces showed how pieces can be repurposed for an entirely fresh perspective. They are, after all, items that are used to build temporary shelters for the urban poor.
I especially associate the work with geology. Many of these found materials are excavated through mining. The compression of jute, newspaper and metal turns fragile, everyday items into solid durable forms, much like the way organic matter becomes solid rock under pressure over time. His technique highlights the potential of these everyday materials. They not only showcase the beauty of these transformations but also invite viewers to reconsider the value and permanence of seemingly throwaway objects.
And each object carries its own history. The corrugated sheets, often seen in the city’s informal settlements and construction sites, are integral to Mumbai’s urban environment. So, Nai’s work challenges viewers to see beauty and significance in what is often overlooked. The choice, and the viewers’ reconsideration too reflects the ever-changing nature of the city.
Artists have worked with found materials for more than a century. Pablo Picasso has created Cubist collages out of discarded newspapers and matchboxes. Marcel Duchamp’s Surrealist pieces were assembled using pieces of other everyday objects. I too have always wanted to explore found materials in my work. Hence, seeing the work of an artist who so creatively uses them is fascinating.
Harsha Durugadda is a multidisciplinary artist based in Hyderabad. He works primarily in sculpture and performance art. He transforms on-site sounds into tactile sculptures using materials such as stone and glass.
From HT Brunch, August 24, 2024
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