Paresh Maity is never one for small things. Art is a large canvas, just like history. On the year of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, public spaces are crowded with interpretations of his life and work. Just as Gandhi was larger than life, Maity also sees him so. ‘Dandi March’ is Maity’s tribute to the Mahatma and is on exhibition at the Art Alive Gallery in Delhi till October 31. The monumental 7x15 feet painting is a mixed-media artwork using oil, acrylic, and sawdust. Maity, like all significant artists, is experimental in a variety of styles and mediums. How does he decide which to choose? “It is the subject and the medium that hunt me. I don’t hunt them. Everything is in a state of change, nothing remains constant. So why should I be stuck in one medium, or one subject, or one style for that matter?”
His moody paintings of windswept coasts of Kerala, the ever-present ships and boats, his dramatic photographs and powerfully gleaming installations have one aspect in common—scale. Maity agrees with Picasso’s dictum, “Art is the lie that enables us to realise the truth”, while admitting he is constantly trying to realise the truth through art.
Paresh was born and grew in Tamluk village of Midnapore district in West Bengal into an ordinary family. Bengal that produces some of the best known artists is Maity’s artistic womb, its lush bucolic landscapes, vast river views and oceans driving his visual energy. Nature dominates his creative imagination, starting with clay modelling when he was just seven. He was inspired seeing local artisans working on Durga idols for Dussehra. His family was not wealthy enough to send him to art school or buy him an easel and paints. He sold the clay toys he made at village fairs, which he kept up through adolescence to fund his education. Maity quotes Aristotle, “All art is not but imitation of nature”. “It means, all we think about in this world is present in nature. We cannot think beyond it. I am very close to nature. I believe what nature gives is the biggest blessing. I paint in natural light 99 percent of the time,” he says.
Maity’s work, as can be seen in the Gandhi painting, is characterised by its boldness: strong colours, sweeping brush strokes and dominating figures that set the context. He never fails to be moved by primary colours that, he believes, are the identity of our country. With over 80 solo shows over 45 years to his credit, many of his works grace the British Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi. An 800-foot long painting by him adorns a wall at the Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Not just that, once a village boy who could not afford to live in Kolkata while studying art and had to commute four hours to and from his village to Art College, today boasts clients such as Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, the Birla family and Sonia Gandhi. “I have been able to what I wanted to with all my heart, my soul, and passion, I will be the happiest artist if I know until the last days of my life I can continue doing this,” he says.
Paresh is waiting to treat Delhi to a display of new installations. When? “Soon. Very soon,” says the eccentric genius in his trademark beret with a twinkle in his eyes.
When and where
Art Now at Art Alive Gallery till October 31; 11 am to 7 pm