“I Find My Escape From The World In My Paintings” – A Chat With Naresh Meetei, Artist From Manipur

Naresh Meetei is a 33-year-old contemporary artist from Manipur who works currently as an Art director at an advertising agency in New Delhi. Growing up, he was always fond of drawing and doodling. His work consists of interesting synthesis of colours, textures and lines. He draws inspiration from various street artists, mother nature and the internet!

We had a chat with Naresh Meetei, an artist from Manipur to talk about his work, inspirations, his recent work and more!

Naresh Meetei, artist from Manipur

Hello Naresh! Please tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Naresh Meetei and I’m 33 years young 🙂 . I was born and brought up in Imphal, Manipur and presently, I work as an Art Director at an advertising agency in New Delhi. I’m currently working on a new series of paintings for my next exhibition in February 2020 and I’m very excited about it.

Introduce us to your work. What got you started?

As Master Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up“. I loved drawing and sketching, and I continued doing what I loved. When I was in high school, the back pages of my notebook were filled with random drawings and doodles. I was not good at anything particular except for drawing and sketching. I think that got me into what I am doing today. And the best thing is that my parents were always supportive and never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do.

Wall art by Naresh Meetei

Wall art by Naresh Meetei

‘Blossom’ – Pencil and Acrylic on paper by Naresh Meetei

Artwork titled ‘Nebula Stroll’ by Naresh Meetei

Artwork titled ‘Nebula Stroll’ by Naresh Meetei

How have your roots influenced your work or working style?

Being from a place like Manipur where nature’s blessings are abundant, I grew up playing in the mud, fields, rivers, hills and pretty much everywhere. This kept me very close to nature. And I think this has influenced my working style a lot. You will see all my works are somehow connected to nature.

How do you manage to work full time as an art director as well as paint and prepare for exhibitions?

Even though I’m currently working full-time as an Art Director at an advertising agency, I always try to find time to paint and sketch whenever I can. Sometimes, I have to sacrifice weekend plans with friends, but that’s OK because I feel I can always catch up with them some other time. It’s kind of hard trying to manage the balance between my day job and finding time to paint but I enjoy creating art because that’s what I love doing, and I think this is what I was born for.

“Save us” sketch by Naresh Meetei

Artwork by Naresh Meetei

Artwork by Naresh Meetei

What’s your creative work philosophy and where do you take inspirations from?

I love to explore new ideas, styles, and applications. Painting makes me calm and happy, and I find my escape from the self-centered, unappreciative and confusing nature of this mundane world through my paintings.

I love working with lots of colours, textures, and lines. I get my inspiration from lots of street artists like Banksy, Pejac, Bordalo II, etc. and mother nature of course. Nowadays, there are lots of dope artists that you find on the internet, and I get inspiration from them too.

What do you hope people take away from your Art?

From my art, I hope people get inspired to do something good for themselves and for others. I wish to inspire people to love each other. I see lots of talented young folks with amazing work on social media and it would be wonderful if I could somehow inspire them with my work as well.

Tell us about your recent work and project.

My artworks are becoming more abstract now. My latest series is called “Love” which is inspired by John Lennon’s “Love is all we need”. “Love” explores the significance of love in humanity. Through this series, I hope to inspire people to rediscover their love for each other. In this complicated world of today, I’m earnestly trying to bring love back.

“Love” is a series of 5 canvases. They are named as 1. Love Birds (Acrylic on canvas), 2. Her Love (Acrylic on canvas), 3. His Love (Acrylic on canvas), 4. Unconditional Love (Acrylic on canvas), 5. Unexpected Love (Acrylic on canvas)

One from Naresh’s “Love” series – ‘Her love’

One from Naresh’s “Love” series – ‘Unconditional love’

One from Naresh’s “Love” series – ‘Unconditional love’

Artwork titled ‘Tears of a girl’ by Naresh Meetei

Artwork titled ‘Tears of a girl’ by Naresh Meetei

Lastly, any message for our readers?

I was shocked and terrified when I learnt about how fast plastic is killing ocean life and how it is destroying our beautiful mother nature. Since then, as a small effort to reduce plastic pollution, I have started using plastic as less as possible. I’m also planning to use all the plastic I use in my paintings to reduce my plastic footprint. I alone can’t make a change but together we can. I want my paintings to tell them “Small efforts can make a huge impact”.