Chintan Upadhyay
Chintan Upadhyay is known for creating provocative and incisive works that critique society in a decidedly tongue-in-cheek fashion. His signature leitmotif – babies (Chintus/Smart Alecs/Designer Babies) – functions both as symbol and surface on which meaning is created as per their idiosyncratic requirements. In their homogeneity and vaguely disturbing artificiality, they act as a highlight on the rampant commercialism we see around us. Often overtly sexual Shekhawat Miniatures appear on the body of the work, suggestive of the contradictions that are raised within the artist’s own self with respect to bodily and psychological mutations. In this manner, his paintings and fibreglass sculptures represent cultural fusion and a metamorphosis of classicism into the contemporary. In their assorted irreverent poses and gestures, they interrogate manipulated realities and the politics of identity with impish anger hidden beneath a cute exterior. In addressing serious issues of genetic manipulation and mutation, Chintan Upadhyay problematizes not only identity, consumerism and cultural formation but the very nature of life, birth and death in a technologically modern world dictated quite brutally by market forces.
Chintan Upadhya has shown in several galleries around the world including Gallery Espace, New Delhi; Leela Kempenski Art Gallery, Mumbai; Seoul Art Centre, South Korea and Grosvenor Gallery, London. He is the recipient of the Charles Wallace Foundation Award and several other awards for his paintings and drawings. He also founded Sandarbh, an artists’ initiative that provides impetus and a creative environment for artists from all around the globe.
The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
CHINTAN UPADHYAY
Born in 1972 Partapur, Rajasthan, India
Lives and works in New Delhi, India
Founder, Sandarbh, a non-profitable artists run organisation conducting workshops & residencies in rural areas
EDUCATION
1997
MFA Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara
1995
BFA Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010
Nature God, Sakshi Gallery, Taipei
2009
Mistake, Inda Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Khatti Mithi, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
Iconic Shrine, Gallery SoulFlower and Roundabout, Jaipur
2008
Metastasis of Signs, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Mistake, Aicon Gallery, London, UK
Pet Shop, Ashish Balram Nagpal Galleries, Mumbai
New Indians, Gallery Seorsie Natalie, Paris
2007
Tentuaa Dabaa Do (Kill her)?, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur
2006
I want to be an international artist, Seoul Art Center, Seoul
Mutants, Sarjan Art Gallery, Vadodara
Maya, Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery, Mumbai
Clone Vithalla, Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery, Mumbai
2005
Baar Baar Har Baar Kitni Baar?, installation & performance, Sarjan Art Gallery, Vadodara
2004
Conkers, Installation Project at Spike Island, Bristol, UK
Designer Babies, Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery, Mumbai
2003
New Breed/ Hybrid, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2002
Commemorative Stamps, Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery, Mumbai
Commemorative Stamps, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur
Floating Thoughts, interactive site-specific installation, Brisbane
1999
So What, The Fine Art Company, Mumbai
1998
This has been done before, Shahjehan Art Gallery, New Delhi
1996
Desirable Objects, Leela Kempinski Art Gallery, Mumbai Group
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012
Narratives of the Self: Autobiographies, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
2011
Roots in the Air, Branches Below, San Jose Museum of Art
2010
Mix Match, a performance, Museo Ex-Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City
Finding India, MOCA Taipei
2009
Finding India, Seoul Convention Centre, Seoul
Text-Context, Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest
Spectrum, Indian art at Abu Dhabi, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
Lo Real Maravilloso: Marvelous Reality, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
2008
Link, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai, Mumbai
Keep Drawing, project conceptualised by the artist, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
The Ethics of Encounter: Contemporary Art from India & Thailand, Gallery SoulFlower, Bangkok
Indiavata, Sun Contemporary, Seoul
Nature Art Exhibition, Abiko, Japan
2007
Here & Now: Contemporary Voices from India, Grosvenor Gallery, London
Hybrid Trends, Seoul Art Center, Seoul
Opening Exhibition, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai
2006
Satyagraha: A Group Exhibition by South African and Indian Artists, Travancore Art Gallery, New Delhi; Kizo Art Gallery, Durban
KAAM, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai
Annual Show, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai
Pink Shop, part of Hybrid Trends, an Indo-Korean show curated by Isang Song, Seoul Art Center, Seoul
Bombay Maximum City, Lille 3000, Lille, France
KAAM, Arts India Gallery, New York
KAAM, organized by Arts India West, St Palo Alto, California
2005
Indian Contemporary Art, Chelsea College of Art, London
Present-Future, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
Are we like this only? Rabindra Bhavan, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
2004
Corresponding Latitudes – India/Australia cultural and regional exchange, curated by Melissa Waters KickArts, Cairns, Australia.
Bombay Boys, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
Concepts and Ideas, CIMA Art Gallery Pvt Ltd, Kolkata
Red, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
Bombay 17, Kashi Art Gallery, Cochin
Gallery 27, Oslo, Norway
Dots and Pixels, Digital media, Sumukha Art Gallery, Bangalore; Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Portraits of a Decade, CIMA Art Gallery Kolkata & Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2003
Parthenogenesis, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
Corresponding Latitudes, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur
2001
Annual show, Gallery Wren, Sydney
2002
Brahma to Bapu: Icons & Symbols in Indian Art, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi & CIMA Gallery, Kolkata
Quotable Stencil, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2000
Sic: An Audio-visual Installation, The Fine Art Company, Mumbai
1999
Mumbai Metaphor, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
Wall Paper, Lakeeren Art Gallery, Mumbai
1997
Class of 1997, Lakeeren Art Gallery, Mumbai
Harmony Show, Reliance Group of Industries, Mumbai
50 Years of Indian Independence, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, Ahmedabad
ART FAIRS/BIENNALES
2010
A memorial in memory of a dead car, Nature Art Biennale, YATOO, Korea
2008
ARCO art fair, Madrid
Asian Art Biennale, Taiwan
2007
Beijing Art Fair, China
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
2010
A memorial in memory of a dead car, Garten Kunstsommer, Wiesbaden, Germany
Sandarbh, Partapur, Rajasthan,
2009
A memorial in memory of a dead car, Sandarbh, UK
2007
Tetua Dabaa do…, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur
2006
Umbilical cord, Partapur, Rajasthan, India
2004
Made in China, Viart Gallery, New Delhi
Missing, Vagad Project 3, Samode, Rajasthan
2003
Bridging Rural and Urban, Vagad Project 2, Bori Village, District Baswara, Rajasthan,
A Metamorphosis from Rural to Urban, Vagad Project 1, Partapur, Rajasthan
Made in China, Chemould Art Gallery, Mumbai
Post Card Project, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
2000
Objects of Desire, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
2001
Shilpgram (Crafts Village), Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur
1995
Circa Early Seventies, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara
PERFORMANCES AND WORKSHOPS
2011
Fucking Hell, produced during residency organised by Hybrid project San Salvador
2010
Sandarbh, Artists Workshop, Partapur, Rajasthan, India
Metastasis of Signs: A Performance by Chintan Upadhyay, 15th Muestra Internacional de Performance, Museo Ex-Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, Mexico
A memorial in memory of a dead car, Garten Kunstsommer, Wiesbaden, Germany; Nature Art Biennale, YATOO, Korea; Sandarbh UK, Belper, Derbyshire, UK
2008
Sandarbh in collaboration with Vijay Sekhon, Moultrie Georgia, USA
2007
Social- Mental-Environmental, Workshop on Art and Ecology, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin
International Artist Workshop by Vyom Art gallery, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur
Keep Drawing, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
2006
Workshop in collaboration with Asa Sonjasdotter, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark
Art Tap, an interactive site-specific workshop, Kashi Art Gallery, Cochin
I am a slut, a collaborative Video and performance with Amit Kekre, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
Public Sculpture, a solo performance produced in Sandarbh Sweden artist’s workshop, Ven Island, Sweden in collaboration with Asa Sonjasdotter, with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Denmark
2005
You Have to Decide, solo performance, Csikszereda, Romania
2000
Three-day workshop and interactive performance at Studio 39, Baroda
1999
Collaborative workshop between visual artists and Sujuni Kantha craftswomen, organized by Morarka Centre for Research and Revival of Crafts, National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai
1997
Diverting Involvement, a workshop with street children organized by YUVA an organization of social works, Mumbai
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2008
Taj Gourav India Award
2005
Artist in Residence, Charles Wallace Foundation, Bristol, UK
2000
Garhi Scholarship, National Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1998
Annual Exhibition Award, Rajasthan Lalit Kala Akademi
1996
Annual Exhibition Award Gujarat Lalit Kala Academy
Annual Exhibition Award, Nagpur, Maharashtra
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