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Future shreds

The Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke in Colaba has turned into a space of optical wonder,thanks to the works of artist Manish Nai.

The Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke in Colaba has turned into a space of optical wonder,thanks to the works of artist Manish Nai. Intertwining circles on the wall explore the limits of depth in two-dimensional forms,while three squares and a rectangle perched on the floor encourage onlookers to explore the possibilities of perspective through three-dimensional objects. All these are made with a rarely-used medium — jute. Nai’s solo show,titled Extramural,is on till September 11.

Nai has been working with jute for ten years,and has exhibited his work at various galleries in India and abroad,including the Beppu Asia Contemporary Art Exhibition in Japan in 2003 and Galerie Karsten Greve,Cologne,Germany in 2009. For the 30-year-old artist,jute is more than an experimental medium that he randomly chanced upon. Its application in his work exemplifies maximum utilisation of available resources. “My father was a jute trader and when the jute market slumped,our house became a dumping ground. So I thought of creating something out of it,which would be different and would also satisfy my creativity,” says Nai,who started his jute work after completing his diploma in drawing and painting from L.S Raheja School of Art,Mumbai,in 2001.

Nai adds a sheet of butter paper on the canvas and daubs it with paint,before fixing the jute fabric on the canvas. Jute shreds are then carefully removed to create different patterns. “I first draw the patterns on paper. Then I scan and digitally manipulate the images,which are then projected and traced on the jute fabric stretched on canvas. Then I begin removing the threads from jute, which is tedious because in this textile,threads can be removed only from one side,” says Nai. These threads don’t go to waste either — they’re used to make his three dimensional objects. In case of designs that cannot be replicated on jute,he creates murals on the wall with them. “There were some designs that really intrigued me and I wanted to export them to some medium. So I started creating murals on my studio walls. I have made one mural at the gallery too,” he adds.

Nai’s work ranges from Op Art to Arte Povera (literally ‘art of the poor’ in Italian). For him,the appreciation and opportunity received in India and abroad is encouraging. “This art form is not well-known in India. But surprisingly,I have been given good platforms. My art does not carry any political or social statement. It is all about the form. The whole creation of the work is art itself,” says Nai.

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Dec 27, 2025
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