Ashish Maurya
Conceptual Art · Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh
Ashish Kumar Maurya (b. 12 July 1996, Nakati Mishrauli, Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh) is a contemporary Indian artist and scholar whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, printmaking, photography, and mixed media. His work centres on rural and urban dynamics, labour, survival, memory, and human resilience.
He earned his BFA from Banaras Hindu University (2019) and his MFA from the College of Art, University of Delhi (2021), and is currently pursuing a PhD in Fine Arts at BHU, Varanasi. His doctoral research, A Study of New Perceptions of Reality in Contemporary Indian Art (1990–2020), examines the evolving visual languages and socio-cultural concerns of modern and contemporary Indian art.
Maurya presented his debut solo exhibition, Trees Don't Eat Their Own Fruits, at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (2024), followed by his first international solo show, Roots of Humanities, at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka (2025). His work has been shown at the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, and the Kochi–Muziris Biennale, and he has taken part in residencies including the CRACK International Art Camp, Bangladesh, and IGNCA art camps. His honours include the UGC Junior Research Fellowship, the Art for Hope Grant from the Hyundai Motor India Foundation, First Prize in the Emerging Artist category at Mojarto ORA–2020, and a State Award from the State Lalit Kala Akademi, Lucknow.
Moving fluidly between painting, mixed media, installation, and works on paper, Maurya's practice extends into lived experience, exploring rural and urban transitions, migrant identities, environmental consciousness, and the quiet resilience of ordinary people. Materials such as charcoal, graphite, found objects, and organic elements become extensions of thought, carrying both physical texture and conceptual weight. Recurring motifs of trees, hands, architectural fragments, and human figures work as metaphors for endurance, sustenance, and interconnected existence.
Grounded in academic research, studio experimentation, and field observation, his practice sustains an ongoing dialogue between theory and lived reality, reaching continually toward new perceptions of the real within Indian and global art.
Works
- A LABOR OF LOVE — Ashish Maurya
- ALTERED LANDSCAPE OF MY VILLAGE — Ashish Maurya
- ALTERED LANDSCAPE OF MY VILLAGE 2 — Ashish Maurya
- ALTERED LANDSCAPE OF MY VILLAGE 3 — Ashish Maurya
- ALTERED LANDSCAPE OF MY VILLAGE 4 — Ashish Maurya
- CONCRETE DREAMS — Ashish Maurya
- CONCRETE DREAMS 2 — Ashish Maurya
- CONCRETE DREAMS 3 — Ashish Maurya
- CONCRETE DREAMS 4 — Ashish Maurya
- ROOTS OF RESILIENCE — Ashish Maurya
- SYMPHONY OF SURVIVAL — Ashish Maurya
- SYMPHONY OF SURVIVAL 2 — Ashish Maurya
- SYMPHONY OF SURVIVAL 3 — Ashish Maurya
- SYMPHONY OF SURVIVAL 4 — Ashish Maurya