Beauty of nature gathers a quietly powerful body of work by Praveen Saini, shaped over three decades of near-daily devotion to watercolor paintings. Working from Muzaffarnagar, where he serves as an art teacher, Saini sustains a rare equilibrium between his personal practice and his commitment to education, often giving his time freely through workshops for children. As a result, his art grows not only from discipline but also from generosity.
His approach to watercolor is instinctive yet controlled. He allows pigment and water to move, bleed, and settle on their own terms, while he guides their rhythm with practiced restraint. Although he works in collage, acrylic, and oil, watercolor remains his true language, a medium that mirrors both his precision and his contemplative spirit. Consequently, this exhibition stands not merely as a display of paintings, but as a record of devotion: to art, to teaching, and to the quiet ritual of making every day.
In an exclusive conversation with The Interview World, Saini reflects on the evolution of his practice and the ideas that continue to shape it. He speaks of the central theme of this exhibition, traces the other subjects that recur in his work, examines how viewers respond to his images, and reveals the directions he hopes to pursue next. What follows are the essential insights drawn from that thoughtful and revealing exchange.
Q: How long have you been painting, and what core themes do you typically explore in your work?
A: I have painted since childhood. Over time, art ceased to be a pursuit and became a relationship, intimate, constant, and inseparable from who I am. For the past thirty-five years, I have worked with sustained commitment, and for thirty-three of those years, I have also taught, guiding students from early childhood through college. Consequently, what appears on my canvases is not only practice but lived experience, distilled through years of looking, teaching, and making.
The central force of my work is the beauty of nature. Yet nature is not merely something to admire; it is something we must learn to understand and respect. Therefore, we must change how we see it and, in turn, how we live within it. My paintings give form to this conviction through colour and atmosphere. I rely on blues for their quiet, cooling presence and on greens for their sense of growth and balance. Just as people instinctively flee to hills and mountains in summer in search of relief and beauty, I attempt to recreate that same sense of refuge on paper. Through these landscapes, I invite the viewer to pause, to breathe, and to reconnect with the natural world.
Q: What theme are you exploring in this solo exhibition, and how many of your paintings are on display?
A: The central theme of this exhibition is the Beauty of Nature. Accordingly, I present forty paintings in this solo show, each one offering a distinct yet connected meditation on the natural world.
Q: Is this a theme you explore consistently in your work, or do you experiment with others as well?
A: No, I do not remain bound to a single theme. Instead, I shift my focus in response to time, context, and necessity. As the world moves forward, an artist must move with it, engaging new subjects and new ideas. Two years ago, for example, I devoted a body of work to Nandi so that people could preserve that presence within their own spaces. However, an artist should never trap himself within one frame. By continually moving from one subject to another, he keeps both the work and the vision alive, fluid, and dynamic.
Q: Apart from this, what other themes do you explore in your work?
A: I work with Indian culture as a living, evolving subject. Our Prime Minister urges citizens to reconnect with their cultural heritage and to integrate it into everyday life. Therefore, through my paintings, I strive to bring people back to their roots and to remind them of the values embedded in our traditions. As a nation, we must continue to develop; however, we must do so without losing sight of who we are. True progress, after all, gains its strength when it remains anchored in cultural memory.
Q: How do people usually respond to or connect with your paintings?
A: If we try only to satisfy viewers, we inevitably end in dissatisfaction. Instead, we must express our own feelings honestly through paint and allow that truth to travel outward. In doing so, viewers begin to find themselves within the work. After all, no two people see the same way; every individual brings a different taste, a different history, and a different eye. Therefore, rather than chasing approval, the artist must commit to authentic expression. When that sincerity reaches the viewer, real connection occurs, and it is through that connection that an artist truly succeeds.
Q: Looking ahead, what themes or styles would you like to work on next?
A: Contemporary art has become a vital and widely explored field. Accordingly, I intend to move more decisively in that direction. It speaks directly to the present, and therefore it commands strong interest among today’s art lovers.
