Wei-Ling Gallery collaborates with well-known Indian Gallery Sumukha to showcase Malaysian and Indian contemporary art. The two galleries plan to work together to broaden the boundaries of Contemporary art in the region.

Paintings, sculpture and installation works by Paresh Maity are on view at Wei-Ling Contemporary Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from November 9-2nd December 2011.

The series of paintings, sculptures and installation, though untitled, speaks a thousand words.

The oils on canvas and sculptural installation in fiberglass, depict man and woman to demonstrate a gamut of human relationships. Maity feels that man and woman, and the various relationships that exist between the two, is the largest monumental living image that surrounds us all everyday in every part of the world. Through these works, he endeavours to show the many emotions that prevail between two people, their love, closeness, and happiness, as well as their sorrows and disappointments, their failures and triumphs. Emotions and feelings that make each one of us alive and connected to a common brotherhood, while simultaneously remaining unique as individuals.

His use of vibrant colours and intriguing shadows lend an air of mystery and romance to his works, enticing the viewer to step into the dramatic atmosphere of his pictorial message.

Light is a crucial component in all of Maity’s works and it plays an integral role in setting the mood for a piece. The bronze sculpture, Face of the World is one such piece where light plays the central role. It depicts the germination of art, symbolised by the light effect in the sculpture, and art itself refers directly to the creative process. The sculpture thus sends out the message that light (enlightenment) and art, when merged together, result in creation, as a world created.
Maity’s paintings, sculptures and installation promise a vibrant and interesting display of Indian contemporary art. Maity himself is something of a maverick artist, multi talented and widely travelled. His inspiration comes from the many adventures and places he encounters on his frequent sojourns abroad. The sand dunes of Rajasthan, the backwaters of Kerala, the canals of Venice, the pyramids of Egypt, the lake of Geneva, Maity has captured it all, whether in paintings, photography or sculpture. His current works included in this exhibition will be sculptures in fibreglass, and an installation, in addition to his paintings.

His early works, water colours, largely figurative, reflect his formal training. But gradually he began to move towards abstraction and though still involved with landscape, Maity’s imagery and form has become more abstract with calligraphic strokes and washes of colour. Restless by nature and an avid traveller, he journeys across India and the world in search of new inspiration. In fact he once said that it was his stay in Rajasthan that made his works explode with colour, and there has been no looking back since. Today, his works reflect an artist deeply committed to the joy and celebration of life. Over the last 20 and odd years, he has achieved a high proficiency, and whatever medium he may choose to work with, be it paper, canvas, bronze or any other, he creates magic.

On Paresh Maity
Paresh Maity born in 1965, studied Painting (BFA) at the Govt. College of Art and Craft, Kolkata and Painting (MFA), at the College of Art, New Delhi. His works have been shown in a numerous solo exhibitions and group participations throughout India, and in Germany, the UK, USA and Singapore, and he has also been represented at recent art fairs. His works are in several private and public collections in India and abroad and he is the recipient of numerous prestigious national and international awards.

Initially known specifically for his water colours, he has also established himself with oils on canvas, and more recently, with his sculptures and installation works. Maity believes in the all pervasiveness of nature, which featured especially strongly in his earlier water colours. He has since evolved to portray human emotions, painting faces which depict myriad expressions. Observing people and places is a crucial part of his creative process. He is an avid traveller and photographer, absorbing sights and colours which he later transfers to his canvas or paper surfaces. On an early trip to Rajasthan, Maity was fascinated with the vast menu of colours, shades and forms the desert offered, and has since used them in his works, painting large water colours and canvases with desert scenes, capturing the spirit of the desert with colours and lines, using motifs from this land and its people’s lives. From his numerous and frequent sojourns abroad, he brings back imagery which he immortalises on his canvases and paper works, locking in the memories and experiences of his travels. Always evolving, he is also currently working with bronze and fibre glass to create sculptures and installations.

Over the years Maity has carved a niche for himself in the Contemporary art world in which he is firmly settled and his reputation for one of India’s most interesting and tastefully colourful artists has grown internationally. His most recent achievement, the largest public art painting in India, has been his contribution to the new Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, when he was invited to represent the vast canvas of India. Indian Odyssey, measuring 7 x 800 feet, consists of fifty three panels, and Celebration, measuring 6 x 62 feet and consisting of five panels, together make up one of the most monumental contemporary paintings in the world, and certainly the largest Maity has painted to date. It transports the viewer through the varied and vibrant landscapes of India, covering states throughout the country with depictions of the culture and customs particular to those regions.

Paresh Maity lives and works in New Delhi, India.

In 2004, Wei-Ling Gallery opened its doors to prominent foreign artists, and has since hosted several international shows at its space, including shows by Cuban, Pakistani and Australian artists, as well as group shows by India’s renowned artists, including MF Hussain. The gallery has also taken Malaysian contemporary art to an international audience, presenting shows in Karachi, (Pakistan), Beijing (China), Bangalore (India) and Singapore.