India-based artist Manish Nai is an internationally recognized artist whose biggest passion is creating masterpieces from other people’s trash. In this creative genre, called recycled art, artists like Nai gather materials other people have thrown away and recycle them into sculptural, multimedia artworks. Recently, Nai was honored for his artistic achievements by an organization in Singapore, adding to his list of achievements.
Nai, who lives in Mumbai, explores the idea of trash and recycling through his art. Some of his most recent work includes a finely woven net of recyclable material. The thin weave and transparency of the work highlights a sense of the ephemeral. All of the materials Nai uses in the net have been discarded by someone after serving their purpose. And eventually, every person will also cease to exist in their lives in death. It calls into question just what our purpose might be, including whether we achieve it, and what happens to us once we have.
Nai didn’t always use recycled material for his artistic medium. He started his creative career as a painter. But when he painted on particularly fibrous materials, he noticed that he could pick apart the weave and make new and interesting patterns in the material itself, rather than using paint on canvas. He started storing threads that he picked from his canvases, and when he saw the natural shape they took, realized that his art practice was taking on a new natural progression, too — into recycled art instead of painting.
Though Nai’s recycled art is generally sculptural these days — with an upcoming solo show in the Netherlands — he was honored in Singapore for his series on billboards. During an economic recession in India, Nai noticed that many billboards weren’t being updated with new advertising, and the sun and weather was taking its toll on whatever was displayed on the large signs. So he started documenting the process, photographing the multiple billboards and making an artistic series of the results. Though many people assumed that he did digital alterations on the photos, that is not the case. The main artist for the billboard series is the natural elements — Nai simply took the photos.
Some of Nai’s most visceral and visually interesting work is his sculptures made of compressed clothing. He started making small cubes from discarded clothing from his family, then graduated into making larger sculptural works from donated and locally sourced discarded clothing. What could’ve ended up in a landfill or dump is instead repurposed into meaningful and immersive art.
Art can take on all formats — even the most surprising ones, like in recycled art. Visit SGArtClass.com today to learn more about recycled art, found art, assemblage art, and more. You can even enroll in an art class to test your knowledge and resilience in making masterpieces from trash.
To read more about Manish Nai and his work, go to https://www.indiatoday.in/lifestyle/what-s-hot/story/the-art-of-sustainability-this-mumbai-based-artist-makes-art-out-of-waste-1315229-2018-08-16.