Selected Works

Aicon Gallery is proud to present Cityscapes Part I | Paresh Maity, an important solo exhibition from Indian master-painter Paresh Maity. The exhibition hinges around a series of recent canvases inspired by a visit to the town of Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic, from which Austrian Master Egon Schiele also derived a famous body of work. The exhibition is the first of two back-to-back shows at Aicon Gallery exploring juxtapositions in painterly urban landscapes as interpreted by Maity, who lives and works in New Delhi, and Bernardo Siciliano, living and working in New York.

Born the son of a government clerk and raised in the small, yet art-historically important town of Tamluk outside Kolkata, art was always a guiding force for Maity. Schooled for over ten years in the rigorous science and history of Fine Arts, first in Kolkata and then in Delhi, where he attained his master's degree, Maity is a lifelong student of painting. Maity has demonstrated his mastery of the medium in multiple subjects and styles, from landscapes and still lifes to figurative and expressionist works. Virtuosity of media is not his only message; instead, the spirit behind the man and his talents are. The artist himself explained his ongoing journey, stating: “The execution of the work itself may take little time, but to get there it has taken me twenty years.” Maity believes water-colors are the “heart and soul” of his medium and practice. Over the past two decades, the artist has attained a mastery in the medium few can claim. Paresh Maity, on whatever surface he selects—be it paper, canvas or another medium—consistently exhibits his mastery of the use of vibrant colors and dynamic forms across a wide range of subject matter. This exhibition focuses on his interpretations of the urban cityscape.

Earlier in his career, Maity briefly experimented with abstracts, which was more freeing of the limitations afforded by traditional landscape. One would still see an odd feature, like a building or a tree, though not in a purely representative rendering. Even when he returned to painting features and figures, the contextual setting was more generalized. The focus instead was placed on the idea of the figure, specifically faces and their myriad expressions, closely cropped and juxtaposed among vast surroundings. The stylized, simplified figures have a story of their own, transporting one into an exotic land.  Early on, Maity painted many watercolors, done en plein air at different locations. There are recurrent motifs prevalent in Maity’s images. Boats are often a recurring feature; to him, they are hypnotic in character, and not only symbols of movement and journey but also evocative of his boyhood memories. Then, there are old buildings with weathered facades, reflected in bodies of water or lining distant horizons. The other prominent character observed in Maity’s visual language is his fascination for exploring textures, further enhanced by his experimentations across all painted mediums.

Cloudy Calcutta streets, swollen rivers in Kerala, pastoral scenes in France and agrarian villages in Rajasthan all populate his work in saturated planes of color. While technically a resident of Delhi, Maity paints all over the world, spending a maximum of two or three months every year at his studio there. Consummating his role as a nomad, the artist travels the globe armed with his paints, canvases and array of materials, to capture his response to magical and unpredictable experiences along his journey. The sand dunes of Rajasthan, the backwaters of Kerala, the canals of Venice, to the lakes of Geneva, Maity's works capture everything in his distinctive style. Notably, Maity says that it was his time in Rajasthan that made his works explode with color, and there has been no looking back since.

After a recent visit to  Austria and the Czech Republic, specifically the Southern Bohemian town of Český Krumlov, Maity’s most recent works  comprise a collective study in serenity and whimsy. Incidentally, this village had also held the fascination of Austrian master Egon Schiele, whose mother was raised there and who created a well-known series of works that served as a further inspiration to Maity. Maity’s works, however, seem to encapsulate more than just the Bavarian architecture of the scene. His textured renderings draw parallels to an Indian village, with roofs drenched in sun-soaked cadmium yellow, while still reminiscent of the bohemian allure felt in the pastoral parishes. Much like Schiele, Maity’s playful ambiguity of line, textures and colors offers up an insight into the mind of an artist who has weathered many travels over the course of his life.