Landscapes and seascapes in watercolors, executed on handmade paper, form the core subject of Parag Adhikari’s paintings. Executed with a classical technique, his paintings are broad vistas of color and light that interpret the language of nature. Not one to be limited by reality, Adhikari essays to explore the meanings underlying the obvious...
Read More Using nature to explore the abstract, Adhikari paints spiritual landscapes.

Landscapes and seascapes in watercolors, executed on handmade paper, form the core subject of Parag Adhikari’s paintings. Executed with a classical technique, his paintings are broad vistas of color and light that interpret the language of nature. Not one to be limited by reality, Adhikari essays to explore the meanings underlying the obvious and this lends an abstract quality to his paintings. According to critics, this seeks to give a deeper significance to general themes. The imagery is personal and represents the quest of the artist for a spiritual significance to offset the often-unsettling details of modern life.

Adhikari hails from Kolkata, a city that has been the birthplace of many an eminent artist. Born in 1961, Adhikari studied at the Rabindra Bharati University, Santiniketan. He belongs to the new breed of artists who rely on the logic expressed through dreams, memory and a heightened sense of the need for self-expression. These artists, rather than serve merely as a recording instrument for the eyes, try to portray the conflicts that are inseparable from modern-day society through the medium of imagery.

Adhikari’s landscapes stick to the conventional as far as the subject matter goes, depicting scenes from villages and seashores. But they are not an exact rendering of that which is perceived; rather they are canvases that embrace a wider spectrum of issues that are topical to the day and age. On first appearance, they seem disjointed with no unifying idea, but on moving away from them the paintings grow into flowing patterns that fuse effortlessly into a whole.

Adhikari uses light cleverly to add to the breadth and space of the canvas. In his paintings, the sky is never a hard, translucent blue. Instead, his characters play out the drama of life under a twilit or cloudy heaven, showing the many obscurities that beset human endeavour.

Creating a delicate balance between the real and the metaphysical, Adhikari captures the often hidden depths in people and objects within the framework of the conservative limits of landscape painting. His works are a reflection of not only the times, but also the mind and heart of the artist attempting to solve the questions posed by observing the world around him.
The artist lives and works in Kolkata Read Less