Born in 1935, in Amritsar, Punjab, Paramjit Singh grew up in pastoral pleasantry, which is reflected in his work as an artist. Moving to New Delhi, the artist studied at the Delhi Polytechnic, completing a diploma in Fine Arts there in 1958. Almost a decade later, he studied Printmaking at the Atelier Nord in Norway.

Singh’s brush charts a course on the canvas that gives the viewer panoramic visions of mystic landscapes. The bush, coated with thick pigment, does not rest before it has filled the entire surface; before the paint has ensured that all the natural forms in the frame have been given a colourful, tactile presence. The dappled areas of the sky and water too are rendered with a tactile feel. The lines etching out the grass, the leaves, the peduncle, seem to be possessed by a mysterious, lyrical musicality.

The artist’s paintings create a continuum or series, evading the risk of self-duplication. Working both in the realist and the representational style, Singh’s canvases are gentle explorations of the possibilities that lie beyond the urban world that surrounds us; beyond the noises and sounds and streets packed with vehicles. Singh’s art is significant in its creation of a space for itself, and of an aesthetic haven for its viewers.