Where ‘A Knot’ says a lot

Profile

In pursuit of becoming a fully trained artist, Manesha Deva Sarma S N, has endured existential issues on personal and public realms. This has never hampered the gusto of creativity. The artist carefully ties up loose ends in his ‘Knots’ of time, says Nisha Aggarwal.

Artist Manesha Deva Sarma S.N.

‘Better late than never’, is a prevailing proverb, but believing in it with inlying credence is a different quest. Manesha Deva Sarma S N is one such artist, whose artistic journey lies in this engagement. Born in the village Pattazhi, Kollam district of Kerala, Manesha completed his early graduation in Commerce from University of Kerala. While pursuing another Bachelor degree in Law, he came in touch with artist friends in Kerala, helping him discover his artistic interest, urging him to enter Fine Arts. Climbing up with this ‘settling’ spire of his educational career, Manesha started being drawn towards art. Although before starting any academic training in Fine arts he had a solo show of his works in Kerala in 2002, but being eldest among his siblings was another hindrance for entering into art field as a full time pursuant. At the same time his application was rejected for Bachelor level course in Fine Arts College, Trivandrum, Kerala due to age criteria. Then somebody told him about Kala-Bhavana, Visva-Bharti University, West Bengal. He heeded the suggestion and applied to enroll in a BFA course to become a practicing artist. Finally at the age of 23, Manesha got in to Kala-Bhavana, Santiniketan. From there he completed his Bachelor and Master in Fine Arts in Sculpture in 2007 and 2009 consecutively.

The Plant (Fiber Glass, Terracotta, Iron & Soil)

After completing his Post Graduation, he moved back to Kerala, his hometown. Need of a regular income urged him to take up a job and he found an interest in teaching. He joined in R. L. V. College, Thrippunithura, Kochi, Kerala as sculptor/teacher for one year. Since the family needs and his own work demanded financial stability, where he could work uninterruptedly irrespective of fluctuating art market scenario, he took up a job of Art Teacher in Kendriya Vidyalaya and was posted in the IIT Campus, Chennai. His works have been included in various group shows held in Santiniketan, Kolkata, Kochi, and National exhibitions of Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. He is the recipient of scholarships from Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy in 2008-09, from Visva-Bharti University in 2008 and Junior Artist Fellowship from Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India in 2010.

Onathumpi (Mix Media)

Manesha is primarily a sculptor, who has recently turned to painting since he shifted to Chennai. Although he has been doing drawings during his study at Kala-Bhavana, his early drawings and sketches for sculptures are replete with painterly potency. His imagery works in a similar manner both as a sculptor and painter however his paintings hold more narrative resonance. Manesha is a prolific sculptor who started with life size/and more than life size portraits in clay, terracotta and fiber glass and slowly brought his realistic sculptures into conceptual territories with the use of various different/ experimental mediums. His figurative sculptures comprise masculine human body parts (legs and hands mainly). These body parts are knotted, standing rationally, walking confidently, lying self consciously and sometimes in confused complexity. A few among them carry spades while some others are divided by skewer or sword (mainly in the series of sculptures ‘Avatar’ and in other works). The sturdy legs and spades are a metaphorical transcription of his father’s memory, who was a farmer. The multiple legs attribute to a powerful role of a farmer.

Avatar-2 (Fiber Glass, Iron & Paints)

His later sculptures seek a respite from the rigidity of three-dimensional sculpture. They are movable objects where he gives a car the shape of a human brain, putting wheels to it. They are displayed with relief onto walls on slabs, especially when he executes the form of human brains connected to each other. They sustain the stance of installations (in ‘Avatar’ series, The Homo Erectus, Sleep Walker, The Plant and Onathumpi etc.). They hold the performative gestures of a living body where two knotted hands are displayed lying on the floor with puffed rice (‘mudi’ eaten mostly in Bengal).

Untitled (Wood, Fiber Glass, Iron & Soil)

His sculptural work ‘Onathumpi’ is his childhood memory of the important Malayali festival ‘Onam’ widely celebrated in Kerala. He remembers the dragonflies hovering all over spreading their colorful wings in that season. Being born and brought up in Kerala the cultural background influenced him a lot as an artist. The visual experience of Kerala’s traditional art forms played a vital role in the nurturing of his inner artist, especially the festive celebrations, rituals pertinent to these celebrations and the characters of violence and faith aligned to these rituals. For instance another painting ‘Vayillakunnilappan’ is a portrayal of religious allegory from Kerala. It’s a story of a migrant Brahmin whose one son was believed to be God.

Vayillakunnilappan (Oil on Canvas)

Along with soft memories, the nuances of his cruel contemporary world come into his works. The violent problems of terrorism, communal riots, wars (industrial development) etc. make him fearful and anxious to lead a peaceful life in present world. The political and socio-economic structure of his village and other places serves as a background for his works.

The Tale (Oil on Canvas)

Here ‘Knot’ is having a primary presence in all of his works ranging from sculptures to paintings.  As Manesha sees all things in this world are knotted or related to each other. The knots is a ‘relation’ for him. The man in him is knotted with this world and his struggle to break that knot and set free has resulted in such an idea. He tries to explore the knots as concepts and forms. By knotting legs or hands and other objects he is getting an easy way to present a gesture or action. By using different knots he tries to explore the nature and character of different kind of knots through his works.

Another noticeable and interesting feature of his works is the human anatomy; how it changes from outwards to inwards slowly from sculptures to paintings. His earlier sculptures are masculine human body parts, then inner body parts like brain, and recent paintings open up these masculine bodies and make the viewer visit its internal junctions. His paintings largely speak of the environmental issues that he has observed while living in the peaceful space of his village and in his current location where entire landscape is on the verge of a complete ‘makeover’.

The Mutant (Oil on Canvas)

(First Appeared Online in CartanArt Magazine, Issue-I, May 2014)