Biography
Subodh Gupta, dubbed as the ‘Damien Hirst of Delhi’, is a world renown Indian contemporary artist.
Multifaceted, his production runs across the complete gamut of mediums, from sculpture and painting to
installation, photography, video and performance works. He transform the icons of everyday life into intricate
artworks-cum-commentary reflecting on the transformation of the economic and cultural Indian landscape.
Born in Bihar in northern India in 1964, Subodh Gupta spent his formative years traveling with a small
theatre group. He worked as an actor for five years while designing posters to advertise the plays. Later on,
he worked as a part-time newspaper designer and illustrator while studying at the College of Art in Patna
(from 1983-1988) where he went on to receive his BFA in painting. After graduation, he was offered a
permanent job by the newspaper. He then moved to New Delhi, where he was awarded a scholarship by a
government-run initiative, and a space to work in the Garhi Studios.
Although trained as a painter, he experimented with variety of media; stainless steel being his signature
medium. He worked with everyday objects ubiquitous throughout India, such as steel kitchen utensils, used
in almost every home in the country. He utilize the found and manipulated these objects to encapsulate
multiple meanings and reflect on the circumstances of contemporary India while employing both their
aesthetic properties and conceptual significance. By using these quintessential Indian icons, Subodh Gupta
questions the ambivalence of a society caught between traditional customs and globalization, booming
wealth and impoverishment, and old caste politics and religious beliefs. He explored the effects of cultural
translation and dislocation through his work, demonstrating art’s ability to transcend cultural and economic
boundaries.1
In the past ten years, within the context of the contemporary art scene of India itself, Gupta has gradually
moved towards a more encompassing attitude of art, one which focuses on specific images and issues that
subsequently dictate the mediums in which they can be articulated. To be sure, certain motifs are often found
repeated in different works as Gupta's concerns hover close to home even though his formal rhetoric may
seem to be imported. It is the diversity of his production which is most impressive. He is almost completely
alone among his generation within India to completely disregard disciplinary boundaries or the inhibiting
strictures of the marketplace.2
Gupta’s works have been exhibited in prestigious museums, art fairs and biennales throughout the world.
Solo exhibitions of his work have been held in some of the most internationally renowned contemporary art
galleries, including Hauser & Wirth (London, Zurich, New York and Somerset), Arario (Seoul and
Beijing), Pinchuk Art Centre (Kiev) and Galeria Continua (San Gimignano, Italy). In 2012 his mid-career
survey was seen at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, curated by Germano Celant. His most
recent solo shows include Anahad/Unstruck (2016) at Famous Studios, Mumbai, India; Invisible
Reality (2016) at Hauser & Wirth, Somerset, UK; and Seven Billion Light Years at Hauser & Wirth (2015),
New York. In late 2015, his monumental sculpture When Soak Becomes Spill was installed in front of the
Victoria & Albert Museum in London; a giant stainless steel bucket with hundreds of small vessels spilling
from the brim like over-flowing water. His work was included in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s recent
show Megacities Asia and in 2013 he was awarded the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Letters, among
the French government’s highest honors, for his contribution to contemporary art. Gupta’s work has been
acquired by leading private collectors as well as for the permanent collections of museums all over the world.3
Gupta's process, always keenly aware of the physical presence of objects, the aesthetic and symbolic
attributes of materials, the relationships between space, bodies and the passage of time has the penchant to
exploit the cliches of India. His works carry a wealth of connotations yet successfully found an art language
and aesthetics that resonates throughout the world producing breathtaking pieces that reflect on the
transformational power of the everyday.
Text Reference:
1 3 Retrieved from http://naturemorte.com/artists/subodhgupta/ &
2 https://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/2787-subodh-gupta on September 10, 2018