BackPerhaps the only artist to refer to his studio as a ‘factory’ and his artworks as ‘Chintan Upadhyay Unlimited,’ Chintan Upadhyay’s practice probes raw nerves and inconvenient truths. His works often feature ‘smart alec’ babies—mutated, cloned, distorted, and blown up to improbable dimensions. These grinning babies provide him with a versatile visual language to address a wide range of social issues. One common theme in Upadhyay's work is cloning and mechanical reproductions, raising questions of originality and identity, aptly highlighted by his unsettlingly identical, sleek, and flawless babies.
Upadhyay further erodes the concept of identity by superimposing colorful scenes from Rajasthani miniatures onto the sculpted babies, suggesting perhaps that identity is merely a marker placed on humanity at birth and worn like clothing. His critique of the postmodern, hyper-capitalist global system is present in the form, medium, and methodology of his work, challenging the homogenizing force of cityscapes.
Born in 1972, at Partapur, Rajasthan, Upadhyay moved to Vadodara to train at the Faculty of Fine Arts, where he received his BFA and MFA in 1995 and 1997 respectively. Since then, he has had successful solo exhibitions in London, Paris, Taipei, Brisbane, Bristol, Mumbai, and New Delhi. He has also participated in group exhibitions at San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose; Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei; Asian Art Biennale, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan; and National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai and New Delhi.
The artist lives and works in Mumbai.
Upadhyay further erodes the concept of identity by superimposing colorful scenes from Rajasthani miniatures onto the sculpted babies, suggesting perhaps that identity is merely a marker placed on humanity at birth and worn like clothing. His critique of the postmodern, hyper-capitalist global system is present in the form, medium, and methodology of his work, challenging the homogenizing force of cityscapes.
Born in 1972, at Partapur, Rajasthan, Upadhyay moved to Vadodara to train at the Faculty of Fine Arts, where he received his BFA and MFA in 1995 and 1997 respectively. Since then, he has had successful solo exhibitions in London, Paris, Taipei, Brisbane, Bristol, Mumbai, and New Delhi. He has also participated in group exhibitions at San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose; Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei; Asian Art Biennale, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan; and National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai and New Delhi.
The artist lives and works in Mumbai.
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