By – Thoidingjam Tombi
Visiting an art exhibition particularly a solo show after intervals of years offers a nice chance of seeing exhibits from a completely new mental frame. It refers to the recent solo art exhibition entitled “Khongchat” put up at the I Art Gallery ,DMU Road, Thangmeiband Lourung Pural Leikai, Imphal West by Mangsatabam Samson Meetei (born 1981 June 5, Horoscope/1984 Feb 1 academic) of Soibam Leikai, Old Checkon Bazar, Imphal East from February 19-23 and extended upto February 28 ,2023 in public interest.
What attracts my vision is the multiplicity of mediums he used selectively to creatively transform nature’s facades, feelings and emotions of man’s anxiety, social complexity that baffle every now and then the urban dwellers with silent inactivity
BFA in Graphics from Imphal Art College and MFA also in Graphics from Indira Kala Sangit Visvavidyalaya, Khairagarh. Samson is facilitated enough to make him experiment externalisation of undefinable human feelings and concepts that loom large in and around wherever he goes amidst the confusing heap of life’s unpleasant realities.
With felt vision and determination he adopted imageries to transform inner feelings associated with unexplainable life’s ups and down (Punsi Lambi), bad dreams, operations of the undesirable ‘Armed Forces Special Powers’ Act, 1958 and its constricting impacts, dilemma (Colograph), scattered chaples lying helter-skelter, confusion in the family and beyond (Drypoint) all hinting at uncontrolled living situations.
Of all the exhibits numbering seventy the most interesting and unusual one is the painting entitled” Leingaklon” done on paper measuring 2¢¢ (breadth) x 4¢ (length) mounted on a 5¢ long x1.4¢¢ wide rectangular empty space the two inch broad surface depicts an empty chair at the top with fishing string that drops down the bottom in the manner of tempting others. Or, is it hinting at a vast political arena represented by 5¢ x 1.4¢¢ empty space yet to be explored for the benefit of future generations by statesmen with holistic visions?
The show is worth appreciation considering the sincere attempts of the artist to address complexities of contemporary life through pictorial language.
He has to his credit the Manipur State Kala Akademi Art Exposition Award in2009, The 83rd Annual All India Exhibition of Art, 2011, AIFACS, NEW DELHI, 1st MKPB (Maharaj Kumar Priyabrata Singh) Memorial Art Award, 2015, MSKA (Manipur State Kala Akademi) Award, in 2015, etc.
The write-up will not be complete if a few words about how the “I ARTGALLERY” Thangmeiband Lourung Pural Leikai, DMU Road, I/W. came about. The owner Imobi Sharma Shijagurumayum himself an artist of repute has offered an endowment to open his I ART GALLERY free of charge to those artists who feel the necessity of exposing his art through a Solo Art Exhibition at the Gallery. This landmark offer was materialistic and the Gallery was inaugurated by Dr. R.K. Nimai Singh I.A.S. (Retd) former Commissioner of Art & Culture, Govt. of Manipur as the Chief Guest and the Director, Dept. of Art & Culture, Govt. of Manipur/Secretary Manipur State Kala Akademi as the President on the auspicious day of January 25th, 2023 with the Retrospective Solo Art Exhibition of the National Lalit Kala Akademi Awardee (1988) Thoidingjam Tombi Singh.
