Whatta Stroke! Artist Paresh Maity's canvases chronicle his crazy love for cricket
Delhi-based artist Padma Shri Paresh Maity’s works, Cricket’s Greatest Canvases are enough to leave the fans of the sport feeling ‘clean bowled’.
One look at the painting that depicts the India vs New Zealand match from 2023 and any Indian is sure to feel compelled to pray — hope India wins the ICC Champions Trophy today! Meanwhile, its creator, Delhi-based artist Paresh Maity shares how he couldn’t stop smiling when the cricket lover in him got to know that International Cricket Council (ICC) wants him to be their “first-ever in-stadia artist”.
“My love for cricket began in 1983, when I was in class XII and India won the World Cup under the captainship of Kapil Dev... I watched that finale on a big purda (cloth screen) as television sets were still uncommon in those days,” he recalls, making us privy to the fact that today Dev is in the longlist of collectors of his art. He's always been one to keep the cricket commentary in his subconscious while he concentrates consciously on his art. “Cricket and football are the two games that we all used to play when I was growing up in my hometown in West Bengal. Sometimes, we wouldn't even have a bat and a plank of wood would serve the purpose or a tree would act as a wicket,” he recalls with a smile as childhood nostalgia hits him.
Veering the conversation to the experience of painting live during the five matches that he attended in the stadiums in 2023, he shares, “I had never seen a match in a stadium. I would always hear it while it while working in my studio… People were very inquisitive when they saw me paint live, inside the stadium. In Delhi, several security personnel also gathered around me as I was painting. The people watching the match here in Delhi were loud (laughs)! In Kolkata, since people have more affinity towards the arts, they watched me work in silence.”
“We have 10 cricket grounds in India, so there were initially 10 paintings. But then I made one more from the Ahmedabad finale. Each is signed not just by me but also the captain of the winning team... I made the twelfth one after India won T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados, and the Indian cricket team was welcomed by a sea of fans on the Marine Drive (Mumbai, Maharashtra). That painting is thus named Vijaypath,” he adds, stating, “All these were exhibited in Dubai recently, and I hope that ICC brings this show to India for the cricket fans here.”
Always a cheer leader for India, Maity confesses how he too, like millions of others, bats for “Virat Kohli” as his favourite cricketer. Much like the ace batter, he too believes in excelling in his game. “My destiny brought me to Delhi 35 years ago,” he recounts, affirming what keeps him relevant till date: “I turn everything into art. Aristotle said: it’s not how you do, but what you do. So, I love to experiment. See (Pablo) Picasso; till the age of 91 he was always experimenting! Why should I restrict (myself)?”
This and many other tales are unraveled. But before he signs off, there's one wish that the cricket-loving artist couldn't miss saying aloud: “Hope India wins the ICC Champions Trophy today!”
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