‘Santata’, another piece by Moly being shown at ArtVoice Gallery in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur. — Photos: Muhammad Shahril Rosli/The Star
SHE might have given up on art at one point in her life, but art never gave up on her.
Due to family restrictions, Thenmoly Manickam, 34, from Johor Baru, could not fulfil her aspirations to pursue higher education in arts – a big disappointment for her as she could not do what she loved.
She studied to obtain undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Human Resource Management instead.
“What is even more critical is the consistency and sustainability of managing both,” she said.
But it was during the Covid-19 pandemic that Moly, as she is fondly known, honed her artistic skills to pursue her passion in painting.
Curiously, she mostly uses her fingers instead of brushes, once telling StarMetro that this was so she could feel the texture of each colour and how she loved this process.
Although her day job kept her intensely busy, Moly persevered with her art with the help of mentor Stephen Menon, a modern and contemporary artist and printmaker and founder of ArtVoice Collective, an organisation dedicated to supporting and giving guidance to emerging Indian artists.
In the last few years, Moly has participated in group art exhibitions, but she has come full circle with her first solo exhibition titled “South to North” displayed at ArtVoice Gallery in Jalan Kovil Hilir in Sentul.
The entire collection of artworks in this exhibition celebrates the spaces Moly had visited during her solo trip to India in 2022 – from the south to the northern regions.
“The paintings are inspired by my travels for 16 days. Apart from the history, culture and food in India, the landscape views attracted me the most,” she said at the exhibition launch.
Moly has produced her impressionism interpretation in acrylic of her favourite 14 landscapes, reflecting her emotions, and named each piece in 14 different spoken languages in India.
“I want to visually capture the essence of the environment and communicate a vision of the natural world that evokes a sense of place and transport you into an atmosphere of both intimate and grand scales,” she said.
Some areas gave her peace, and some were chaotic, which reflect her feelings from past, present and future.
Vivid, textural and emotional would best describe “South to North”.
Moly believes in touching the colours with her bare hands as it creates an intimate connection that manifests magical outcomes for each of her artwork.
For her solo exhibition, she often mixed her colours to get different contrast sets by creating her own colour palette.
“I must be meticulous not to repeat the mix of colours in another painting in these 14 artworks.
“If I paint a river with a minimum blend of four different colours, it gives a diverse effect to the artwork.
“And in the same painting, I may have sky and mountains. So each of the objects holds a minimum of four colours in it.”
She did colour-mixing experiments before starting on the canvases.
“Of course, some might not go well. Then I will scrap it and restart – the most painful part of the process, but we learn from mistakes,” she said.
“The best advice given by my mentor is to always draft it first before moving to a big canvas.”
The artwork series showcasing Moly’s interpretation of abstract landscapes, which is on from 6.30pm to 9pm, ends today.
