To coincide with the Mumbai Gallery Weekend, Art Musings presents a rare treat for art lovers in the city of Mumbai, with ‘Gardens of Song’, a solo exhibition by Maya Burman, featuring artworks spanning the last 7 years of the artist’s practice. The artist will be present during the course of the 4 day MGW, where the gallery has planned several interactive sessions with the artist.

Maya’s detailed paintings have a tapestry like effect where everything is subordinate to floral, decorative patterning, reminiscent of the French art nouveau tradition. Her watercolours are peopled by figures, depicted in moments of play, expressive of an abundant joie de vivre, the spirit of play and creativity. Burman’s art draws on diverse genealogies, among them Degas’ ballerinas and the dancers of eastern India. This is consonant with Maya’s transcultural background: her mother is the French artist Maïté Delteil; her father is the Indian artist Sakti Burman. The artist’s immersion in the European and Indic civilisations manifests itself through the details of her work. The small town of Anthé where the artist resides is reflected in her works. Inspired by the abundance of nature; the birds, the fruits and flowers seem to cross over from the overhanging branches of trees to the patterns on the clothes of her protagonists at play, in an idyllic setting.

To quote from the catalogue essay by Shweta Shiware, “Her compositions begin in fragments: a posture glimpsed in a museum, a fold of drapery inspired by a book, the way a passer-by leans on the street. Each reference is removed from its context until it becomes a clean form she can occupy. She gathers from everywhere: Indian miniature paintings, Japanese textiles, architectural ornament, European decorative traditions, sari borders, block-printed cotton. Some motifs come from imagination, others from a sketchbook thick with drawings. Pattern, in Burman’s hands, doesn’t decorate. It organises the picture, becoming both air and architecture. She never repeats a motif; her lines ripple, curl and diverge like living forms. Fabric becomes landscape, landscape becomes fabric. Clothing turns into topography, and figures appear sewn into the world rather than placed upon it. Florals bloom across sleeves and shawls, geometric motifs ripple along hems and floors unfold like woven rugs. Figures feel stitched into their surroundings, as if made from the same thread as the world they inhabit. Pattern is memory, mood and quiet logic.”

Maya Burman has held several exhibitions with Art Musings, including Gardens of Song, 2026; Reverie & Fantasia, 2024; Fête Champêtre, 2021;  Pilgrims in Space, Time, Identity, 2019; The 20^th, 2019;  Confluence Monsoon Show, 2018; BLACK /white, 2017; The Flower & the Bulb, 2016; Rhapsody, 2014; A Dreamer’s Labyrinth, 2010; and Once Upon a Time, 2007. Art Musings has also displayed her work in prominent art fairs including Art Mumbai and the India Art Fair. The artist lives and works in Anthé in the south of France, where she spends her days gardening, cooking and painting.