One would wonder, while looking at the paintings of Manu Singh, why this artist’s world view is so gloomy and darkened. But on a second look, one notices the wings growing on the human bodies, scattered in the space or even the hands that reach out to pick up a couple of them. Then there is a sense of relief; no, this artist is not so dejected by the life on earth and its realities both imagined and experienced, but she is optimistic about the eventual human elevation to a sublime level, if not in life but in death.
Life and death, the inseparable duo play an important role in Manu Singh’s paintings as she understands the philosophical fact that it is death that is one assurance any human being can have when he/she comes to earthly life. But this sure passport to deliverance is often seen with a heightened sense of fear therefore each human being’s effort is to deny this ultimate reality and move on in life with the kind of engagements that one would like to have in order to distract oneself from the thought of death or rather life.
In the world of constant and persistent distractions, if an artist is trying to turn her focus onto the larger issues of existence and it’s passing over to another plane called death, then her world view must be different from those of many of her fellow beings. In her paintings, Manu Singh, shows a dark nether world, which in fact is the world that we inhabit and gives out enough optimistic pointers which could help one to move out of its clutches and liberate oneself. These paintings are in a sense cathartic, though not autobiographical, providing a sense of relief in the desire for deliverance to the sky of freedom.
Manu Singh calls her present body of works, ‘Wings and Shadows’. It could be deciphered in two different ways: One, the pictorial surfaces are proliferated with the images of wings therefore they could cast a shadow over anything that comes under them. Two, there is a huge shadow looming large over human life, of doubts and differences, however, the presence of wings could be the idea of hope. In both interpretations, what remains common is the hope that the wings could constantly provide.
The feathered creatures have always fascinated human beings who imagine themselves as earthlings who are bound to spend their lives in ground. Despite the fact that we have aircrafts and other devices that help us to be air borne temporarily, we come back to terra firma once again feeling the dejection of being confined to the limits of earth and its gravitational pull. It is where the metaphorical wings appear in every human being in the form of imagination. When one is ‘cabined, cribbed and confined’ by situations and events, the final hope rests in imagination that provides one with a pair of wings in the form of creative expressions, day dreaming and wishful thinking. Hence, ‘wings’ is a powerful, positive and entertaining imagination that could transcend both physical and literary bondages.
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