Luminous Terrains: Artist Paresh Maity explores diversity of landscapes of India, France in new show

New Delhi, Mar 3 (PTI) Artist Paresh Maity's quintessential bright reds and blues of Banaras series meet the snowy hues and muted greys of Kashmir and amber yellows of Prayagraj in a new body of artworks that revisits the ecology and diversity of landscapes across India.

"Paresh Maity: Luminous Terrains" by Art Alive Gallery at the Center for Contemporary Art at Bikaner House explores the vast geographical and cultural landscape of India, Venice and France captured by the artist during his many travels.

The exhibition presents a suite of oils, acrylics and drawings that express the serenity of the Dal Lake in Srinagar, breath-taking views of Venetian lagoons, the timeless beauty of the river Ganga flowing through the ghats of Varanasi, the picturesque French Riviera, the vast deserts and colours of Rajasthan and the rugged beauty of Madhya Pradesh.

Writer-curator Kishore Singh said that Maity pays ode to Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro in his new exhibition.

"...not borrowing but building on their foundations to offer in these suites of paintings an Indian interpretation and likely conclusion of light and colour. The light is different in his Venice paintings and those of the South of France, milder, crisper, clearer, almost translucent. The Indian series has more intensity, light filtered through dust, becoming almost tangible, something to be felt and not just seen," Singh said in a statement.

Experimenting with different mediums including oil paintings, mixed media, sculptures and installations, Maity captures the essence of nature through his work which stems from his experiences of travel with nature at the centre of his creative expression.

“For me, nature is represented through my landscapes. I keep going back to places, again and again, to gain a deeper understanding, a deeper meaning, a deeper philosophy of nature, captured with the help of light and colour, something that changes not by the hour but by the minute. Even though I have been painting landscapes for five decades now, they have kept evolving as paintings," Maity said.

The exhibition also coincides with Art Alive Gallery’s 25th anniversary.

“Paresh translates what he absorbs, light, movement, colour, and silence, into a visual language that is instinctive and unmistakably his own. While he is deeply rooted in drawing and observation, his practice is equally shaped by movement across places, cultures, and states of mind. Luminous Terrains is both a celebration of an artist’s journey and a moment of reflection for the gallery itself, completing 25 years in the art fraternity," Sunaina Anand, founder and director, Art Alive Gallery, said.

The exhibition will come to an end on March 10. PTI MAH MAH RB RB