Maitreyi Desai expands the potential of lines with ink on paper, deeply drawn to geographical terrains and forms in the natural world. Growing up, she anchored a sense of familiarity and home to the natural world around her. A banyan tree at her elementary school became something close to a landmark of the self. When she arrived at college, it was a sprawling banyan tree again that met her, as if it stood there specially to comfort her.
She prefers drawing as an approachable medium to translate and simplify her vision with the texture and intimacy that she discovers through her work. “I perceive the outside world in outlines, alignments, those bold lines that define its outer form, followed by texture and then colour,” describes Maitreyi. She thrives in the neat, patient, and meditative act of drawing lines. As she inscribes precise lines, she traces patterns charged with the ability of lines to shift, flow and adapt. Two drawn lines will almost always differ in pressure, intensity and thickness, giving the work its sense of movement. The work that appears highly formal is dense with a sense of delicacy, fluidity and balance.