Paresh Maity: The Contemporary Genius

Santanu Ganguly

Santanu Ganguly strives to explore the journey of prolific artist Paresh Maity, his uncanny proficiency and love for water colour, tracing the beginnings, development, transitions and consistencies and his present inclination towards photography along with his intense passion for the incandescent city of Venice.

Paresh Maity emerged as one of the most promising young painters of contemporary Indian art. At the age of forty six, he has already proved himself as an artist of rare extraordinary talent and creativity. Today he ranks among the more important of contemporary Indian artists. Though recognised as a water colourist the skilful painter is equally at ease with oil on canvas. Paresh started out as a painter in the academic style, but over the years began to shift towards abstraction. At Kolkata he made a solid foundation in learning the British academic style of painting. He achieved a rare excellence in transparent water colours-with a focus on nature, which captivated and fascinated him totally. At the age of 24, one of his water colour paintings was bought by the British Museum in London. Today, his skill in painting pure water colours is unrivalled in the country and he can capture the nuances of light in nature with masterly skill.