Art and Culture

Always apprehensive of things going wrong: Paresh Maity

by India Blooms News Service 21 Dec 2015, 06:06 am

Colour rules his life and by his own admission, he loves to paint day and night. A Padma awardee, Paresh Maity is a force to reckon with and a familiar name in the global art scene. In Kolkata for the inauguration of his latest exhibition, 'Sounds of Silence', he speaks to IBNS correspondent Sudipto Maity

Tell us about your theme?

My themes are a lot of landscapes and nature. Nature is the biggest inspiration in my work and in that there are a lot of human figures as I believe that people too are a part of nature. What we see, observe and understand everyday are the subject matters for my portrayal.


Why did you decide to go with such a name- Sounds of Silence?

A piece of painting does not talk. It is not a movie. It is silent in all aspects. But it has an innate silent sound. I have realised that all art has a silent vocabulary. Thus the name, Sounds of Silence.


What inspires you to paint?

Nature, the various incidents that take place in nature, replete with people, colour and a sense of vastness inspires me to paint pictures.


Performance art does require one to do a bit of homework. So how do you prepare yourself, before an exhibition? Were you ever scared or are you scared of things going wrong at any point of time?

It is a very spontaneous and ongoing process and it goes on every day. I paint throughout the day and at night. I am either painting or sculpting or working on some installation. By the end of it maybe I realise that now I can have an exhibition.

I am always apprehensive of things going wrong. That gives a challenge to create more and more art.


Where does India stand in terms of art globally?

It has a huge appeal today. Contemporary young artists are taking to the global stage in a huge manner. Our art is very private and very colourful. It is becoming global and the day we get proper exposure, it will become the best in the world.


Like one says that pun is a crude form of literature, do you think  graffiti fit the same bill in art?

It may not be a crude form of art. Graffiti was always there ever since the primitive times as seen in rock paintings. Do you think that is crude? That was what created civilization. That was language. How it is perceived is the question.


Do you think with the advent of the social media, art has become a lot more inclusive? Does that help?

It has become a lot more inclusive mostly because of media and communication. It has become very vast today.


Pertaining to my previous question, what are the risks, if there are any, that a young artist faces?

It is much easier for young artists nowadays. Even for my exhibition, people sitting in New York or San Francisco or Sydney can see it because of media. And we ourselves can see something that is happening in a London gallery or a museum in NY thanks to communication which has made it really global.


You paint, you sculpt, you even direct movies, so if I may ask you to rate them in your order of interest, what would they be?

It completely depends upon my mood and time. I love them all. Any form of art that I find interesting moves me.


How do you plan to conserve your artwork?  

I am very careful to use the best of materials to create any piece of art be it in terms of paper, canvas or colour