Mumbai: A massive, multi-genre exhibition showcasing artist Paresh Maity’s work from the 1990s up to the present day opened at Snowball Studios in Worli on Sunday.
Audiences stood transfixed by the visual spectacle created in the film studio, juxtaposing the sculpture of a charging bull made of metal bells with the painting of earthen lamps evoking peace and serenity on the ghats along a river. The absence of captions and wall text gave audiences an invitation to interpret what they saw in the artworks – trumpets, boats, trees, humans – on their terms, assigning meanings that may or may not have been intended by the artist.
The show will remain open for viewing until January 10. It is part of a retrospective titled “Infinite Light” across four Indian cities over five months. It is a collaboration between Art Alive Gallery in Delhi, Art Musings in Mumbai, Gallery Sumukha in Bengaluru, and the Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA) in Kolkata. In Mumbai, it is being held at Snowball Studios, Art Musings and Jehangir Art Gallery, since one space cannot contain all the artworks.
The retrospective presents highlight from Maity’s wide-ranging body of work which includes drawings, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, installations and films. Reflecting on the trajectory of his career, Maity said, “An artist continues to evolve throughout his life but this evolution can be understood clearly only in retrospect. It has been a pleasure to work with each and every medium, to not restrict my imagination and exploration.”
Several artists and art movements have played a role in this evolution. Maity recalled the influence of English painter Joseph Mallard William Turner during the early part of his career when he was engrossed in creating landscapes. When Maity turned his attention to figurative art, he developed a great fondness for Spanish painter Pablo Picasso. “Cubism and impressionism have been major sources of inspiration for me,” he added.
Sangeeta Raghavan, Gallery Director at Art Musings, spoke of the gallery’s long association with Maity. Her mother Shanti Chopra and her aunt Kasturi Wadhwani started the gallery, and their inaugural exhibition in 1999 displayed a young Maity’s work alongside masters like M F Husain, H S Raza and Anjolie Ela Menon.
Raghavan said, “I have a deep emotional connection with Paresh. I got to know him as a friend first and a gallerist later. My mother and aunt discovered him when he was a student. Though he was just starting, these women put him up with the best of the best. Their gut instinct told them that he was cut out for greatness.”
A book titled – Infinite Light – was released by cricketer Sachin Tendulkar at the opening in Mumbai. He said, “I used to love drawing and colouring as a child, and my elders used to shower me with compliments but I grew up and learnt that my strokes with the brush were not as good as my strokes with the cricket bat in my hand. I’m glad that we have an artist like Paresh who makes our country proud because of his hard work, discipline and persistence.” Tendulkar also spoke about his warm relationship with Maity and his wife artist Jayasri Burman.
The book is written by cultural theorist and curator Ranjit Hoskote who also served as the curatorial advisor for the exhibition.
“Maity’s practice as an artist was founded in a mastery of watercolours and the reflexes he has acquired in that medium have also defined his work with other mediums,” Hoskote said over a phone call.
The play of light and depth, colour and saturation in his work, and his ability to work with scale and monumentality are praiseworthy features of his art, he added. Hoskote also referred to Maity’s lifelong critical engagement with Picasso as well as the Bengal school of painting, and the influence of “the living tradition of terracotta sculpture from Bankura in Bishnupur.”
Maity is not planning to retire anytime soon because he believes that “art is life and life is art.” Citing his 850-foot-long mural for the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, he spoke about his intention to “make a lot of public art” because it can “be accessed and enjoyed by everyone who enters a public space”.