Before material-based art became a global trend, Manish Nai was already listening to what jute had to say. His early works —stitched, pressed, and layered —carried a quiet confidence, born not from theory but from memory.
“He is one of the first artists amongst the contemporaries who used textiles in his earliest days,” says Sharan Apparao, who curates The Material Performances of Surface and Structure, a show that brings together 15 of Manish’s early works in jute, paper, and canvas.
Back in the early 2000s, Manish turned to jute because it was part of his life, as his father was a jute trader. Manish’s relationship with jute, deepened after the Zaveri Bazaar bomb blast that impaired his father’s hearing. The material, once familiar and functional, became a vessel of emotion and quiet connection for him since then. “His silent conversation with the material was like a metaphor for the silent conversation with the father,” Sharan explains.
For over two decades, Manish has redefined how material can speak. Using humble mediums like jute, paper, and fabric, he transforms the ordinary into meditations on silence, structure, and memory.
Minimal yet intense, these early pieces are divided into squares and rectangles. His method involves pasting jute over canvas, washing it with transparent colour, overlaying butter paper, and carefully removing warp or weft threads so that light and tone emerge from beneath. “His works were subtle and eloquent,” Sharan adds. Each work of his balances the dense weave of the fibre with delicate absence, producing textures that hover between presence and erasure.
The exhibition is also a reflection of Manish’s growth. “We worked with him when he was looking for a way to find something. For two or three years, we supported him completely,” Sharan shares. Two decades later, those quiet works, which were once sold for a few thousand rupees, are part of major collections around the world. Today, those understated works resonate even more. “There are many who like quiet works,” Sharan notes. “And he has a strong narrative. When you know the background, you connect immediately with everything.”
Open to all. On till November 22. Tuesday to Saturday. 3 pm – 6.30 pm. At Apparao Galleries, Nungambakkam.
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