tightly controlled territory and without any new stimuli to trigger the subconscious into making great works of art. More importantly, where does the artist find the inspiration for his writing, and for his art in this state of perpetual solitude? Manuj Babu's tremendous self-discipline and his uncanny ability to reach deep within his consciousness is extraordinary. In the book 'Atelier Hermitage', which documents his drawings, paintings and travels, the artist gives voice to his metaphysical struggle with isolation: "I am the product of my yesterdays. I revere my past. I am one of the very few people in my country that loves the past. I want to carry the entire burden of the past on my back as far possible......with so many past elements inherent in my paintings I am known to people as a painter of today. I always find my mind squeezed between my culture and other civilizations; between the metaphysical power of my past and the big temptations of the present. I cannot only paint my past nor can I only paint the present, I feel sustained between these two extremes. Consequently, it gives rise to a mental delirium which is reflected in my paintings."[1] The long solitary hours of self-incarceration or precious tranquillity are dedicated to making meditative works of art that connects his cumulative past experiences with the hoary present. 

Though Manuj Babu maintains that he is not in a cage of anyone's making, but of his own design, the years of isolation have taken its toll and robbed of the artist of his sleep. The artist's day begins two hours after midnight. As a "passionate agnostic, nihilist and infidel"[2], he has invented his own set of rituals.Each morning the artist makes it a point to devote time to making drawings, as he regards this exercise to be meditative and sacrosanct. An elaborate tray of china inks and hand hewn bamboo pens, handcrafted by the artist, is brought out as a part of this daily exercise. Each morning the artist paces the confines of his room with a mirror in hand, deciding where he should sit before embarking on making several quick sketches of himself. Volumes after volume of the artist's sketchbooks reveal that he has always been the inspiration and the subject of his drawings.

Sometimes Manuj Babu's self portraits go through a series of deliberate mutations as he metamorphoses his features with that of an animal, insect, reptile or an avian creature. When the artist looks into the mirror, he "detects the special characteristics of an animal hidden deep within his own face, and he can sense its instincts in his own behavior". [3] The blending of human, animal and bird, conjures a "macabre and enigmatic zoology."[4] Commenting on this type of drawing, the artist believes that the projection of our personality is the presentation of a facade, as Man is basically an animal.

Some viewers may consider Manuj Babu's form of meditation to be highly self-indulgent or narcissist. In a documentary based on the biography of the artist, Madhav Dhungel remarks Manuj Babu "has his own style of stoking the flames of revolt. He appears as the subject in his own paintings. He often internalizes a situation, by which he becomes the subject, bearing the brunt and onslaught of his imagined sentiments. His acute sensitivity and lucid imagination render him to be a solemn and serious artist. He often distorts his self-portrait and presents himself as a caricature to reveal the failings of others"[5]. However, a further examination of his sketchbooks, reveal that the drawings made by this artist, are aimed at exploring the theme of the individual in society, and the harrowing tales of survival, in a world devoid of peace and compassion.

Manuj Babu's early and later day drawings bear remarkable similarity in content to the works of the contemporary Indian artist Ganesh Pyne, another proponent of the Bengal School- whose drawings like Manuj Babu's present a " twilight zone of distant murmurs and half experieced dreams"[6]. Both Pyne and Manuj Babu enjoy their isolation and share a love for literature. Their imagery captures feelings of alienation and loneliness - figures are solitary beings, ensnared by their own situations and rarely do they relate to each other. In Pynes works "Man is presented as a vanquished breed, they are killers, and are evil personified"[7] This very emotion is reciprocated in Manuj Babu's drawings and paintings.  

Manuj Babu Mishra is a remarkable draftsman. Though the drawings that he has made in his sketchbooks are purely personal and not designed for any audience, what is remarkable about these drawings is their allegorical and lyrical content, the unconscious graphic layout, and the artist's extraordinary command of line. The compilation of his drawings, reveal the two underlying themes of his concern - an artist troubled by the escalating violence in the world, its impact on the environment and on mankind. The second category involves the study of human faces. However both these themes converge when Mishra documents the travesty of human suffering. Dhungel writes that Mishra’s "high ideals have no room for apathy or niceties. His art reflects the wild and violent individual with a noose around the neck"[8].This aspect of his work means that Manuj Babu's drawings do not draw viewers who are preoccupied with pleasant colours, forms and subjects.

Some of Manuj Babu's pen and ink portraits have been centered on living people, either famous artists or literary personalities within and beyond Nepal. A purist at heart, he considers it blasphemous to make portraits using photographs. His pen and ink portraits are unique as they "ferret out the hidden personalities, sentiments and psychological subtleties of his subjects"[9]. Speaking about portraits Mishra says: "It seems that the whole human history lies hidden in the face of a portrait. The head is the globe, there lies all the elements of the earth. If the artist is able to truly portray a face, the whole earth gets reflected; only a true work of art has the capacity to do this- the whole history of mankind can be discerned there. In the past we have treated some sublime portraits as masterpieces, it is because of the qualitative presentation of the artist. Even these days, whenever I paint portraits, shadows play an integral part of the painting."[10]

Though some people dismiss drawing as trite and clichéd, Manuj Babu shares the belief, that drawing is an intuitive mode of expression that is refined by time, discipline and personal experience. The thousands of self-portraits that Manuj Babu has made of himself provide many vital clues about the artist's subconscious state of mind. Dhungel writes that: "The experiences of bitter truth pave their way in the form of ironical and sarcastic expression in Mishra’s portraits"[11]. In the course of an intense conversation about portraiture Manuj Babu reveals "I cannot see what others think in their minds, but I can see the whole world in my own mind. I do not have the time to study other people and if I paint a pair of horns on their heads, I will get scolded. However I certainly can paint horns on my own head and I therefore spend time studying my own face. I can see the changes in the world reflected in my own head, so why should I make a study of others"[12]. These meditative and thought provoking portraits are sometimes comic, sometimes tragic and sometimes interspersed with words that reflect the artist's random and spontaneous thoughts.

Manuj Babu's drawings are melancholically dark as they encompass the famine, the biting poverty in the compassionless streets of Kathmandu, the bombings in Bosnia and Bagdhad- he portrays a world where there are no heroes and where culture and religion have lost their meaning . Though an agnostic, Mishra combines religious, mythical metaphors with his dark surreal vision to present a parallel reality that reflects his own existential philosophy on life. The images of Shiva's trident (trishul, is incorporated with the sophisticated weapons of today. Bayonets, rocket, missiles, cannons and bombs find expression in many of Manuj Babu' s drawings and paintings as he believes that: "all the three major powers of the world are manifested in a ‘trident’. The trident symbolizes the entire human civilization. Traditionalists, who believed in the concept of the powerful trident, have had to acknowledge that the rocket and the missile are super powerful now. The trident that is hurled up from the earth is redundant and we are fearful of the rockets that can be being fired down to the earth from the skies. While you walk, it is more important to gaze at the sky above you than to concentrate on the ground. We are now sky oriented, because bombs may fall on us at anytime and we may be reduced to dust. This is the reason I have attached much importance to the rocket and to the trident in my art... I derive my theme out of my own tradition and I paint external phenomena being provoked by inner emotions."[13]

The re-occurring image of mother and child and of a grieving mother reflects the plight of all mothers who have lost their sons in religious and ideological wars. Above all, this is perhaps the way in which the artist subconsciously grieves for a mother he lost very early in life.

 It is important for us to comprehend that art and drawing form a composite and ever evolving whole. The absence of color does not mar the power of Manuj Babu's drawings. The primal energy of his line exposes the blueprint of his inner soul. Mishra's drawings provide an intimate and emotional record of a contemporary Nepali artist's reflections on life, politics and art in the 21st century. His drawings can therefore be viewed as the triumph of human ingenuity, individuality, experience, and creativity through time.

Sangeeta Thapa
Art Curator/Director
Siddhartha Art Gallery

Sources:

Book: Atelier Hermitage - Manuj Babu Mishra, A Contemporary Painter of Nepal, Publisher Mohan Kumar Upadhyaya of Nepal Sahitya Prakashan Kendra: 2004

 Thirst of a Ministrel, The Life and Times of Ganesh Pyne, Shiladitya Sarkar

 Documentary: The Life, Personality and Creations of the Artist Manuj Babu Mishra, Produced by Asha Kaji Mahandhar,Nepali  Script Madhav Dhungel, 2007,English Script Sangeeta Thapa

[1] atlier hermitage, 17

[2] mishra quote

[3] atleier hermitage, foreward"

[4] thirst of a minstrel, pg 60

[5] documentary

[6,7] thirst of a minstrel

[8,9, 10,11,12,13] documentary


 

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