A Painter Par Excellence

A Lovely Evening Spent With Annu Naik, Painter, 

A Resident Of 80, Mandakini, Alaknanda, New Delhi

By Anindita Roy

On a lovely late spring evening, I, along with Sumita Pant (101 Mandakini) and Saroj Jain(107, Mandakini) had the pleasure of meeting Annu Naik, the prodigal painter. 

Annu is a delightful person with a smiling face and it was a joy to be with her. We listened in awe to the story of her journey into the world of art. We browsed through a medley of artworks, from line drawings to doodles, ink art, colour pencil sketches and oil paintings. A wide array of oil paintings, yet to be exhibited to the world, awaited us in her studio. We were enthralled to see the huge collection of oil paintings ready to make their way into the houses of the fortunate art lovers to adorn their walls and bring joy to the viewers. As I myself am a lover of figurative art, I was mesmerised by her beautiful depiction of flow of life.

Innumerable workshops and exhibitions later, Annu carved a niche for herself in the art world. Her canvases conjure the tranquillity of the untouched way of life in the deserts of Rajasthan. Her paintings can transfer you from the frenzied, stress filled milieu of city life into the discreet spaces of a bygone era. The artist’s brush creates ‘true to life’ figures going about their daily life. She captures the moods and movements of her subjects in her palettes of muted yet vibrant colours.

Born in 1943, in Karnataka, Annu did her schooling in Pune and later completed her art education from JJ College of Arts, Mumbai. She acknowledges the contribution of her mother to nurture her inner artist, who was also an inspiration for her. She met her life-partner Murlidhar Naik who was a non-figurative artist, while studying at JJ College of Art. Annu loves to travel and has visited about 20 countries and exhibited in about 100 shows. She loves visiting Art Galleries and Museums. Her paintings tell magical stories through stylized realistics and form a part of the private collections of residents of many European , American, Australian and Asian countries.

We wish Annu ‘all the best’ for her upcoming exhibition in August.