Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry in Paresh Maity’s water colours

Neha Saini

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 14

His first painting was sold for Rs 500 and Paresh Maity was still doing his BFA from Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata. Today, he is among the most celebrated contemporary painters of India and a man known for creating India’s longest and one of the world’s monumental paintings, an 850 ft-long painting titled "Indian Odyssey" at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi. But Paresh Maity is never a satisfied man.

Coming up with a series of 15 paintings inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s "Shesh Lekha", also known as the "Last Writings", Maity brought to life Tagore’s philosophy of life.

“Working on this series took me to another level, it was a totally different experience," he said while inaugurating the exhibition of "Shesh Lekha" series at Hyatt. He was accompanied by Pritish Nandy and Anita Chaudhrie, the patron of Stellar International Art Foundation that collects art works on contemporary Indian artists. The exhibition is a tribute to Indian art, celebrating Independence Day and will be held across the five major Hyatt properties in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Amritsar. The exhibition will go on till August 30th.

Three of the paintings from the series of 15 works have been displayed at Hyatt and are based on the 15 poems written by Tagore. The paintings are accompanied by a calligraphic translation by Pritish Nandy and layouts of each painting by Paresh. “It's important to know how each painting took shape. The layouts are the original conception of the paintings and are equally significant," said Maity. Taking five years to process and conceptualise, the series was one of the most difficult to work on, says Maity.

“When Pritish came to me with idea, I was worried as one would have to go to the depths to understand and translate Rabindranath Tagore’s thoughts to canvas. I thought about it all the time, I would wake up thinking about it, until it grew on me. Most of these works are about an endless journey as when Tagore wrote the poems, he was on his deathbed.’ The series was premiered at National Gallery of modern Art, Delhi in 2011. The paintings are for display purpose only.

On his second visit to Amritsar, Maity also expressed his desire to paint the Golden temple. “I first came here two years ago and went to visit the Golden Temple. I was mesmerized by the beauty and the spark of the place. Maybe some day, I’ll be able to paint a series on it. I know it will come to me one day."

“Contemporary Indian art needs visibility”

Presenting the Shesh lekha Series and many others, Stellar international Art foundation has been working with over 20 Indian artists, collected over 600 accalimed works dating from late 19th century and has been taking Indian art to global shores. Anita Chaudhrie, patron, Stellar International Art Foundation says that Indian art needs to exposed to a global audience, especially through private collections. “Ours is not a collection for sale, but because our ideas and purpose resonate with it. We started as a private collection, until we realized that we had a stock with no place to keep it. Sharing our collections with the world, we want contemporary Indian artists to be seen and respected,’ she said.