Maity’s moods & muse
Humra Quraishi

WHAT to make of an artist who first makes bold paintings of voluptuous women, complete with bare breasts, and then sits back, proclaiming in all seriousness that he is old-fashioned, traditional and happily married? 

Painter Paresh Maity first frowns at me for bringing up talk about women but soon enough admits, "Yes, like any other man I do like looking at women. But I go a step further to draw and paint them too."

I persist with my questions. Whom are the images of these beautifully painted women inspired from? He gazes at the nude forms on canvas and says quietly, "They are basically inspired by women from Rajasthan. I travel to Rajasthan quite often and am taken in by the beauty of the women there ...." His voice trails off as he gets lost in nostalgia.

I put aside the pen and notepad to get a closer look at the women who are staring back from the canvases. One look at them and I can’t help asking him in disagreement, "How can these be inspired by Rajasthani women? Even I have travelled to that state and those women are so lean and thin. But here you have painted such fleshy creatures..."

He smiles and adds," I always look at people with a positive attitude...that’s the way to survive. Don’t let anything negative touch you, just turn it into something positive and appealing...."

With that philosophy it isn’t difficult to comprehend Paresh Maity’s success story. At the age of 39, this is his 20th solo show, called ‘Shapes in Symphony’. Constraints of space, however, don’t permit me to give details of all his shows, exhibitions and the awards that he has bagged. He surprises one when he announces that even while his exhibition is going to be on he will be taking off for his winter vacation to his hometown Kolkata. 

"I’ve never been around after an exhibition takes off ," he says by way of explanation. In fact, he is hardly part of the New Delhi circuit as four months in a year he takes a vacation.

"In fact, I did this collection whilst on my annual holiday in Ooty. From May to August each year I take off and paint , just cut off from the world, without radio, television or telephone to disturb and bother me." 

Yes, he does take along his wife, son and mother. Perhaps, his claims of being happily married do hold true, after all

Once in the city, he gets back to its routine or, to be specific, what his Bong locality, Chittaranjan Park, has to offer. But even here, he lives without watching the idiot box. "No television for me though I do read the newspapers."

Do the day-to-day happenings bother him and affect his artistic output? No, here again, the positive streak reigns and takes over the rest.

Maybe, this attitude makes his works stand out, almost like the bold contours of the women he has drawn with such passion.

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