‘Infinite Light’ is a mammoth-scale ongoing exhibition of the work of the renowned artist Paresh Maity. With the show achieving resounding success during its Delhi, Mumbai and the currently ongoing Kolkata chapters, the travelling exhibition is now going to be showcasing the vast repertoire of artworks that the artist has explored during his artistic journey spanning almost four (4) decades including but not limited to sculptures, watercolours, ceramics and more at Aguada Port & Jail complex in Sinquerium, Goa from the 21st January to the 28th of February 2023.
The venue, an erstwhile jail complex until very recently, has now been renovated into a massive heritage and museum space and was designed by Goan architect Gerard de Cunha. Each artwork on display at this venue bear Paresh Maity’s signature strength and mastery over medium and colour, combining elements of large-scale installations, sculpture, theatre, and soundscape.
Art Alive, who is presenting the exhibition in Goa after a resounding success in Delhi, has worked with Maity for over two decades and has collaborated with him on a number of exhibitions. Says Sunaina Anand (Gallery Director, Art Alive), “We are very excited to bring Infinite Light by Paresh Maity, a major, multi-genre exhibition, and one of the largest solo exhibitions of an Indian artist to Goa. After the show’s mega success in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, we are bringing the exhibition to the iconic venue of the renovated jail complex turned into an art and cultural centre, the Aguada which is the ideal venue to showcase works of monumental scale by a Padma Shree awardee artist. It will be the first exhibition of this magnitude in Goa by an Indian contemporary artist.” The gallery’s involvement in this project celebrates their ongoing commitment to Maity’s art and his commitment to them as fellow travellers on his expansive journey.
Exhibition Curatorial Advisor Ranjit Hoskote says “Paresh Maity’s art embodies a deep fascination with light as a shaping power, with colour as a ground of being, and with the human being as witness and participant in epic-scale cosmic dramas. This exhibition maps his investment in painting, drawing, sculpture and installation, as well as his quiet and lifelong preoccupation with ceramics. In each of these forms, Maity translates into aesthetic propositions his memories of landscape and riverscape, the sensations he has absorbed during his journeys across India and the world, and his ceaseless excitement in the face of the world’s changing moods and seasons.”
Honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India, Paresh has held more than 80 solo exhibitions of his work across the globe in the course of his career. His works have been acquired by major institutions including the British Museum, London, the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, and the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata. Several books have been published on his art. Among his public commissions is a monumental painting at Terminal 3, Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. This is one of the largest paintings in the world in a public space.
