Alliance Française de Bhopal Presents:
Lines of Devotion — The Art of Naresh

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Lines of Devotion, a solo exhibition of Mithila artist Naresh Paswan, celebrated as one of the leading contemporary artists of the state of Bihar. The exhibition will be open to the public from December 5 through December 8, offering Bhopal audiences a focused, four-day opportunity to experience Paswan’s visionary and meticulously crafted works.

Hailing from Kunwar village (District Madhubani, Bihar), Paswan began painting at the encouragement of his older sister, the well-known artist Lalita Devi, revered for her fluid and colorful godna (tattoo) imagery. While rooted in this family tradition, Naresh forged a unique artistic language defined by precise black-ink lines, intricate patterning, and a disciplined graphic clarity. His works portray an extraordinary range of themes—from celebrations of nature and scenes of everyday life to depictions of major Hindu epics and deities, as well as divinities and myths specific to Paswan and other Dalit communities in Mithila.

Tn 2022, Paswan became the first member of his community to receive a solo exhibition in the United States, hosted by the Miller-Off-Main Street Gallery in Blacksburg, Virginia. Writing about his work, art historian John H. Bowles observed: “Such meticulous work requires extraordinary discipline, and Naresh regards his art as a form of yoga. His austerity starkly contrasts with his opulent imagination.” (From Bowles’s “Trees of the Honey Forest,” in India’s Mithila Painting, eds. Paula Richman & David L. Szanton, University of Washington Press, 2025:196.)

Paswan’s paintings have entered major public collections (Princeton University’s Firestone Library, San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, Syracuse University Art Museum, University of Connecticut’s Benton Museum…) They are also held in prominent private collections in India and abroad—among them those of Dr. Mrs. Carl Pechman (Washington, DC); Mme. Hélène Fleury (Paris); Mr. & Mrs. Adam Grotsky (New Delhi); Mr. & Mrs. Pankaj Mishra (London); and Dr. Meera Dass (Bhopal).