Contemporary Art in Imphal

By:-Milan Ashem
A person who doesn’t believe in love at first sight would disagree, and
would surely insists in a fit till his premises become a froth at his mouth, that it is
a destined incident where the schedules of Devoid Art collapse with the same
days my mother’s front-yard’s magnolias sprout out to its first budding form.
Those were on 8th, 9th and 10th of February, 2019. The magnolias budding took
place at our front-yard and Devoid Art at Amasoong Studio, Warakkigi, opposite
Matai Garden, Luwangshangbam, Imphal. Now, it is already spring and you can
easily imagine what the little magnolias have turned into. Furthermore, the
Devoid Art too became a spring breaking event paroxysm-ing the visitors with
freshly new experiences. “The main motive of Devoid is to tell the people that
there’s much more to explore when it comes to Art”, being the required dose of
motto.
Since this article would be mainly focussing on the advent of Devoid Art,
I’m afraid I would not be talking about my mother’s magnolias anymore
(apologies to my mother and her lovely magnolias).
Devoid Art is an art exhibition self organised by a group of eight artists;
Sony Thokchom, Shantanu Heisnam, Meena Laishram, Vibhash, Naresh Meitei,
Zaurin Thoidingjam, Kenny Ngairangbam and Seonath Wakrambam. Apparently
and surprisingly all the artists are based at the capital of India, Delhi (not to
mention their native hometown is Manipur and they are not the children of a
same parent).
I waited complete one month to see the response or any critical
appreciation of the happened art event, no one from our very own homeland did
write or talk about it. Or did I miss the regular AIR Imphal 7:30 news? Be that as it
may, there were hundreds of photographs and stories ransacking Instagram and
Facebook of the said exhibition by the visiting admirers. These are the people that
warmed and soothed the eight artists’
hearts, and now I feel more glad that I went there. I went through it as a person
who chooses to always see Monalisa in a cheerful way even if she gives me that
frowning Walter Sobchak look. So, I am just here trying to bring out my own plate
of interpretation and I apologise beforehand if it doesn’t fit into another’s table.
First of all let’s pick up Sony Thokchom and Meena Laishram, since we have
been seeing a lot of people in Delhi talking about the two collaborative art
exhibition by the name, KHONGOOL, literally meaning footprint in Manipuri,
which in turn defines their today’s artistic journey’s footprints career from Imphal
to Delhi.
Sony’s notorious Tea Break welcomed me at the door of the Amasoong
studio, apart from the Amasoong’s welcoming background music Chelou’s
Halfway to Nowhere and the wooden storeyed building’s aroma (believe me, I
didn’t expect that welcome note but it was Amasoong). Most of Sony’s works
explore the North East Indian simplicity and beauties, both rural and urban
lifestyle. Or sometimes, a fusion of both the two. Mesmerizing costumes
overlayed most of his subjects, which always give us a sense of bliss and inviting
note to look and question about his artwork. But Infinity stands out more
uniquely apart from his other works. He mentioned in this work about the theory
of pattern and geometry that gives the universal peace and the infinitely bigger
cosmos that’s living inside us. His Infinity actually is an another symbol of pattern
and peace.
No wonder growing up in a very hard time at the first arrival years of her
new Delhi and having lost her father in her early teenage hood, Meena Laishram
now brings out her burried teenage angst and childhood memories on her fine
canvases. Defining the meaning of Art in a way more clearer. Most of her works
include 3-4 year old children playing, smiling, posing and sometimes doing
nothing. Any adult who is corrupted by girdles of existential crisis, depression and
work burden would surely cherish tears of nostalgia by pondering on her works of
these lovely children. A friend of mine, who accompanied me in the exhibition
noticed a portrait of a small girl frowning, which looked like she was exhausted
returning from school and the same girl smiling in another portrait next to it. My
friend told me it seemed like she was excited to play with her friends. We noticed
the difference between the same girl. Such is the distinctive portrayal of
juxtaposition that Meena tries to remind us in our adult life of our childhood’s
innocence, and the living connection between the two life stages.
 Next is a young fabric man, Vibhash who self progress in upcycling
discarded fabric scraps and tries to produce anything you can wear, yes, in a
fashionable perspective of course. In Devoid Art, he presented his work titled
Hard-Soft which is inspired by Meitei traditional martial art, Thang-ta. Actually,
it’s an illustration of garments hung as silhouettes embodied by his idea of
upcycled vintage soft textiles. The Thang-ta is usually performed by skilled men, a
tough category of martial arts. It is a cultural heritage of meitei tribe performing
since time immemorial. And Vibhash brings in his idea of “upcycle” to represent
this art form. Moreover, if you were there at the front room of Amasoong you
could possibly complain why there is a practice of sword fighting going on inside
that art exhibition studio. It wasn’t so. It was a background music to support
Vibhash’s Hard-soft installation. Any music enthusiast, who suffers from OCD or
not, could notice the unrhythmic clattering sound, that is supposed to represent
the sound made by the swords when fighting. The score courtesy goes to Vibhash
himself and Ton Arambam (a guitarist from The Koi). The music behind and the
silhouettes completed his installation, which displays a cliched yet inspiring quote,
“Art knows no boundaries”.
It’s quite natural when someone can admire all the different forms of art,
maybe literature, painting, music, photography or whatever forms that has been
existing on this planet earth. But, Naresh Meetei’s love of music and painting
blend in together into his latest project titled Love. It is described that the project
is inspired by John Lennon’s “All you need is love”. Obviously, the presence of the
word “love” in “All you need is love” doesn’t count his inspiration, it is his genuine
love of humanity that really counts. His work includes intimately connected
humans, symbols of peace and love, all that we could imagine about love.
Tranquil, His Love, Unconditional love are some notable mentions. Naresh is trying
to convey the universal message of love in his original artworks. It’s as if Naresh
Meetei’s Love have unlocked the greatest enigma to the universe and this love
could explain every phenomenon of the universe. Of course, it could and it
doesn’t take any sort of confession or examination. To see that miracle happen,
all you need is love.
Most of you must have gone to Dzuko, it’s crystal clear that you enjoyed
the chilly breeze, took photographs, and must have even made out with your love
ones marking your rendezvous there but did you make “a piece of Dzuko”? Zaurin
Zane (currently working as a User Interface Designer) didn’t even go to Dzuko and
she collected dried mosses and leaves, barks of trees with the aid of her friends
that went to Dzuko, without harming the nature of this mystical valley, and set up
an artwork named A piece of Dzuko for me. In her work, there includes the dried
parts installing in handmade resin crystals, each crystal signifying a preservation
of hope. This doesn’t end her work, Zaurin then thought to maximize her love of
Dzuko through another giant chandelier (which was a complete show stopper at
the event) structured by only with the handmade crystals. She chose chandelier
not because she was inspired by Sia, but the fragility and the massive elegance of
it, which makes her a metaphor of Dzuko’s beauty and fragility. The whole
concept of her doing this, as explained by her at the exhibition, is that she really
wanted to preserve this exquisite valley, forever, in her heart. She heritage of
meitei tribe performing since time immemorial. And Vibhash brings in his idea of
“upcycle” to represent this art form. Moreover, if you were there at the front
room of Amasoong you could possibly complain why there is a practice of sword
fighting going on inside that art exhibition studio. It wasn’t so. It was a
background music to support Vibhash’s Hard-soft installation. Any music
enthusiast, who suffers from OCD or not, could notice the unrhythmic clattering
sound, that is supposed to represent the sound made by the swords when
fighting. The score courtesy goes to Vibhash himself and Ton Arambam (a guitarist
from The Koi). The music behind and the silhouettes completed his installation,
which displays a cliched yet inspiring quote, “Art knows no boundaries”.
It’s quite natural when someone can admire all the different forms of art,
maybe literature, painting, music, photography or whatever forms that has been
existing on this planet earth. But, Naresh Meetei’s love of music and painting
blend in together into his latest project titled Love. It is described that the project
is inspired by John Lennon’s “All you need is love”. Obviously, the presence of the
word “love” in “All you need is love” doesn’t count his inspiration, it is his genuine
love of humanity that really counts. His work includes intimately connected
humans, symbols of peace and love, all that we could imagine about love.
Tranquil, His Love, Unconditional love are some notable mentions. Naresh is trying
to convey the universal message of love in his original artworks. It’s as if Naresh
Meetei’s Love have unlocked the greatest enigma to the universe and this love
could explain every phenomenon of the universe. Of course, it could and it
doesn’t take any sort of confession or examination. To see that miracle happen,
all you need is love.
 Most of you must have gone to Dzuko, it’s crystal clear that you enjoyed
the chilly breeze, took photographs, and must have even made out with your love
ones marking your rendezvous there but did you make “a piece of Dzuko”? Zaurin
Zane (currently working as a User Interface Designer) didn’t even go to Dzuko and
she collected dried mosses and leaves, barks of trees with the aid of her friends
that went to Dzuko, without harming the nature of this mystical valley, and set up
an artwork named A piece of Dzuko for me. In her work, there includes the dried
parts installing in handmade resin crystals, each crystal signifying a preservation
of hope. This doesn’t end her work, Zaurin then thought to maximize her love of
Dzuko through another giant chandelier (which was a complete show stopper at
the event) structured by only with the handmade crystals. She chose chandelier
not because she was inspired by Sia, but the fragility and the massive elegance of
it, which makes her a metaphor of Dzuko’s beauty and fragility. The whole
concept of her doing this, as explained by her at the exhibition, is that she really
wanted to preserve this exquisite valley, forever, in her heart. She as described by
him is a representative of many unanswered questions about our idea of
development as a city, a society. The balls were curtained symbolising the
preciousness of earth’s soil, like wrapping as a special gift. The visitors were then
requested to walk on barefoot during the entrance to his place of installation in
order to create the natural touch between our chained foot and the earth’s crust.
What a shame for us human being to get apart from our own nature while we are
being nurtured by our mother nature at the same time. Shantanu’s work may be
the least minimalist one in Devoid, but the underlying message he’s trying to build
in our consciousness is greater than we could ever perceive from books or any
scholar.
Last but not the least, we have Kenny Ngairangbam. A freelance illustrator
who is a co-founder and designer in Kok Designs, an art studio which produce
culture related minimalistic souvenirs and posters. For the Devoid, Kenny
presented some of his newest illustrations which falls into his self built variety
classes of explosives. His illustrations vary from the concept of weighing bombs in
kilograms and marketing them as such an essential commodity of our daily life to
a number of bright colored grenades. Kenny satires the behaviour of misusing one
of the important equipments of military in our present world into his artwork. To
speak in particular, his artworks insidiously represent the oppressed victims who
are stucked between the political conflicts and the counter insurgency in our
present state, Manipur. His artistic impulse reminds us that we still live in an
oblivious society of war zone even if the World Wars and the Cold Wars had
already become history.
After the end of the 19th century and with the advent of modernism, many
iconoclasts have modelled different doctrines to change the traditional meaning
of art and its functions. And this shaped and changed the notion of the people
too. So now, modern art has taken a height of hyperbole breeding into different
progenies of art. In context to Manipur’s art scene, it would not be an
exaggeration to state that the artists from Devoid have already accompanied their
own style, each one garnishing an innate originality and needless to mention, they
all fall into the category of modern and contemporary art. As a typical
characteristic of modern art, almost all their artworks need a verbal explanation.
However they still take us to their world of fascinations and wonders which is a
sole duty of a piece of art, moreover providing us a room to display our own
thoughts and interpretations about it. This, as a person who loves to bring in
quirky movie allusion, helps me building up a statement to define the residence of
modern art. Ask me where modern art lives. It’s not that far, modern art lives in
Marienbad. Verily, does it take only your own en route of knowledge to get there
and greet the verified art. As for now we’ve known the residence of modern art, I
would like to conclude this article hoping that the people in Devoid would still
carry on their exhibitions in the next coming seasons creating more artworks.

(Milan Ashem is the creator of Weddell Periodical)