Veteran Indian artist Paresh Maity returns to the spotlight with a new exhibition that explores how light transforms the landscapes we see and remember. Titled Luminous Terrains, the show brings together a series of paintings and drawings inspired by places the artist has visited over decades of travel. Presented by Art Alive Gallery at the …
Paresh Maity’s New Exhibition Shows How Light Shapes Landscapes Across Continents
Veteran Indian artist Paresh Maity returns to the spotlight with a new exhibition that explores how light transforms the landscapes we see and remember. Titled Luminous Terrains, the show brings together a series of paintings and drawings inspired by places the artist has visited over decades of travel.
Presented by Art Alive Gallery at the Bikaner House, the exhibition traces Maity’s long-standing fascination with the relationship between nature and light. The works move across geographies—from the ghats of Varanasi and Dal Lake in Srinagar to the canals of Venice and the French Riviera—turning each location into a study of colour, atmosphere and changing illumination.
For Maity, landscapes are not just physical settings but emotional experiences shaped by time and movement. Many of the works in the exhibition grew out of repeated visits to the same places. According to the artist, returning to a location allows him to observe how light changes constantly, altering the mood and meaning of a landscape from one moment to the next.
The exhibition also reflects the artist’s decades-long engagement with travel. His paintings capture diverse terrains, including the deserts of Rajasthan, the spiritual environment of Varanasi, and the shimmering lagoons of Venice. Each canvas presents a different visual rhythm—sometimes calm and translucent, sometimes intense and dramatic—depending on how light interacts with the landscape.
Art critics note that Maity’s work subtly acknowledges the influence of European Impressionist masters such as Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh. However, instead of imitating them, his paintings reinterpret their interest in light and colour through an Indian visual sensibility.
The exhibition also marks an important moment for the gallery itself, as Art Alive Gallery celebrates 25 years of promoting contemporary Indian art. Alongside the show, a publication featuring essays by art historian Partha Mitter and critic Kishore Singh has been released, offering deeper insight into Maity’s evolving artistic practice.
Running until March 10 in New Delhi, Luminous Terrains reflects how the artist continues to revisit the natural world even after decades of painting. Through sweeping canvases and vivid colour palettes, Maity invites viewers to experience landscapes not simply as places on a map but as fleeting moments shaped by light, memory and travel.
