It takes very little for renowned artist Paresh Maity to get inspired. Be it the greenery in his hometown back in Tamluk, West Bengal, or the canals of Venice, both get impartially reflected on Maity’s canvases in a form that’s a mix of the real and the abstract.
Though a traveller for most part of the year, most of his works include recurring elements like rivers and boats — reminiscent of the childhood that he spent in the small town of Tamluk. “But there has been a lot of experimentation and evolution in my works with respect to the medium and so on, over the last four decades,” says the artist, who works out of his studio in Delhi.
Many of these paintings, besides sculptures and drawings, are part of the exhibition ‘Beyond Horizons’, presented by Bangalore-based Gallery Sumukha. “At the exhibition, you can also spot a work that I did when I was 13 years old, and the most recent ones done in 2017!” he says. Maity will be exhibiting his works in the city after a gap of six years; the last was at Art Chennai. The current show also coincides with Gallery Sumukha’s 20th anniversary celebrations.
Maity, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014, studied painting (BFA) at Govt. College of Art & Craft, Kolkata, and Painting (MFA), at College of Art, New Delhi. His works have been shown in a number of solo exhibitions and group participations throughout India, and also in Germany, the U.K., U.S. and Singapore. He started off with using water colours as a medium, and later oil on canvas. He is also known for creating large installations and sculptural creations. One such, Sound of Silence , is of a face created using hundreds of bells.
(The exhibition will be held at Lalit Kala Akademi between January 24 and February 5, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
