Madhav Imartey

Madhav Imartey (also known as Madhao Imartey), born in Nagpur in 1953, pursued formal art training at Mumbai’s Sir J. J. School of Art, receiving his G.D. in Drawing & Painting in 1979. He further deepened his understanding of Indian music at Mumbai University, earning both a BFA (1994) and an MFA (1996) in Indian Vocal Music.

Imartey is celebrated for his inventive collage works and respected as a critic in both visual and auditory art forms. His dual mastery in visual techniques and classical music enriches his aesthetic sensibilities, combining discipline with creative exploration.

Imartey’s art transforms discarded or everyday mechanical objects—typewriters, stove burners, CD phones, and electrical pylons—into emotionally charged compositions. His early collage-paintings, made from old postcards and inland folders, conveyed a “quiet music” through subtle washes and muted colors. Over time, his work grew more expressive, at times erupting into fragmented forms that seem to “scream for their place in the sun.”

Influenced by his mentor Prabhakar Barwe, Imartey’s art embraces abstraction and spontaneity, often featuring serpentine forms, fluid lines, and human body echoes—evoking both familiarity and unease. His work asserts that form and materiality alone can speak powerfully without external narratives.

• Exploding Typewriter (1999) – Typewriter breaking into calligraphic motion.
• Stove Burner Forms (1999) – Burners morph into fluid, limb-like shapes.
• Postcard & Letter Collage (1999) – Archival fragments evoke quiet nostalgia.
• Ink Droppers (2000s) – Droplets align in eerie minimal rhythm.
• Object Montage (2014) – Juicer, phone, and tower in surreal harmony.

• Contributor to Marathi publications including Sakal, Kesari, Loksatta, Lok Prabha, and Maharashtra Times, covering both music and visual arts.
• 2013 – Speaker at Marathi panel “Abstraction in the Mumbai Context.”
• Essay contributor to Walking Through Soul City, a Sudhir Patwardhan monograph (The Guild & NGMA Mumbai).
• Co-author of “मममज्ञ: डॉ. अशोक दा. रानडेगौरव ग्रंथ” (2012), honoring musicologist Dr. Ashok Ranade.
• 2019 – Printmaking workshop at Arthur Bunder Press, etching a pylon on acrylic.

• Solo exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai.
• Legacy: A-vanguard, Gallery Threshold, Delhi – Works featuring typewriters, pylons, and cement mixers.
• Moving Images, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum – Retrospective from 1990 onwards.
• Printmaking workshop & exhibition, Chatterjee & Lal, Colaba.