Mr. Ajay Deshpande

Ajay qualified from the prestigious Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya,Pune. At the culmination of his Art Diploma in 1992, Ajay was ranked second in the state of Maharashtra. He went on to complete his Diploma in Art Education in the same school of art. Ajay has added many feathers to his cap since.

He has hosted exhibitions across the entire Indian art scene including The Jehangir Art Gallery, The Nehru Centre, The Museum art gallery and many more galleries in Mumbai; renowned galleries in Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Goa. He has also exhibited his paintings in Singapore in 2008 and the USA in 2015 and 16. Recently his portraits were displayed and sold at the Royal Society Of Portrait Painters, England .

His passion for art drives him to undertake workshops at national platforms and demonstrations at various art schools. He was awarded the prestigious Lalit Kala Academy scholarship in 2002-2003 and his work continues to be recognized on a regular basis.

His works adorn the walls of the art lovers all over the world. His work can be viewed on web portals too.

Ajay’s gaze often wanders to the periphery of our mainstream existence and rests on the life plying quietly along dusty city streets or in idle rustic places. There, he finds subjects –  the itinerant village musicians, stray animals ,birds– that hark him back to his own roots, to a childhood spent in a small village of Maharashtra.

These people in small places make their way to his canvas, occupying centrestage, magnified in meaning, as Ajay traces his own journey backward – and inwards. The characters take shape, come to life on the canvas, and then fade away in the mind of the artist , leaving contours for him to fill with his colours, memory, moods and imagination. The depiction, starting from the realistic, thus moves into the realm of the abstract and his conversation with the character begins to grow beyond the subject, finally outgrowing the canvas to seek some intangible truth beyond it. The truth of the character’s life, of his expression and the viewer’s intention intermingle to make his art complex and evocative.

Highly atmospheric, rich in movement and texture, Ajay’s paintings justify the title  – “Tuning with the past” – on several levels. His unique vision is also reflected in the “Goat”series, where he places the animal against different backgrounds to explore a range of striking scenarios. One can see his evolvement in the various series of paintings.  Portrait being his forte….he takes the liberty to express himself through figurative paintings combined with different moods expressed spontaneously. Ajay likes to engage with art students and runs painting workshops privately as well as at renowned galleries in Pune.

As Ajay continues to evolve, the richness and maturity of his paintings are a testimony to his unwavering commitment and love to everything that is Art.