Somenath Maity

Biography

Somenath Maity (Born 8th November 1960, Contai, East Midnapore) is an Indian painter well-known for his oil paintings of urban landscapes. Often regarded as an avante garde of contemporary Indian Art, Maity works mostly on canvas. He completed his diploma in Fine Arts from the Indian College of Art, Kolkata in 1980-85 and has held his solo shows at major galleries in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi. His works has also been exhibited in Germany, Sweden and UK. He has received several awards and scholarships including the AIFACS award and scholarship in 1995-02, Birla Academy Award and a Senior Fellowship from the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India in 2002. He lives and works near Kolkata.

Education

Somenath studied fine arts at the Visual Arts College under guidance of fellow artist Shuvaprasanna in Calcutta and completed his Diploma in Fine Arts from Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship.

Honours

Solo Shows

Shows Abroad

Press Reception

Maity is well known as an oil painter across India, whether judged by his appearances in national newspapers or by the number of galleries offering his works for sale.

National newspapers

Maity is treated as a major modern artist by national newspapers and magazines in India:

In artist Somenath Maity’s work, currently on display at Prakrit Gallery, one sees the juxtaposition of his childhood memories of a small town with bustling Kolkata chock-a-block with sky-high buildings. The result is a canvas of almost mythical quality — picture long façades illuminated by a crescent of a moon, or soft sunlight pouring out of a corner of an otherwise unlit space.

Lauded for his avant-garde work, Somenath Maity observes the inner beauty of cities and paints them on his canvases. But childhood to fame has been an arduous journey for him. Here, Himani Tyagi gets a sense of the artist and his art through the prism of his life’s struggles

"Somenath Maity interprets the urban sprawl of Kolkata in his many paintings and his untitled canvas offers a slice of that cityscape with elements like a gateway and cross-bar railings, in rich, layered colours." - feature article in one of India's leading national newspapers.

Somenath Maity’s forms in “Structures” using oil on canvas, Palaniappan R.M.’s striking “Quick Withdrawal” uses geometry, Senathipathi M.’s “Arjuna” — acrylic on paper is a floating fishes, floorboard and Arjuna’s many heads disoriented.

"a massive show featuring masters and big names like S.G. Vasudev, Somenath Maity, Basukinath Dasgupta and G Subramaniam"

"Curated by Gautam Kar, this ongoing group show has on display works of several experienced artists like ... Somenath Maity and Thota Vaikuntham among others. We have selected those artists for the show who have been in this field for over 15 years, as they bring with them the experience and the seriousness that we required," says Isha Singh, owner of Art Laureate."

Art galleries

Maity's work is exhibited, reviewed, and sold at many art galleries across India:

Maity's paintings are for sale or exhibited at sites such as: