Subodh Gupta

Subodh Gupta: a visual voice for society

Subodh Gupta was born in 1964 in India. He studied painting at the College of Arts and Crafts in Patna and now lives and works in New Delhi. Cultural identity is the main theme Gupta has been working with during his career, and his visual writings declare solidarity with the environment and his epoch. Moreover, his works are often composed by the familiar and the spectacular.
The first part of his career is characterised by video and performance but he soon started dedicating himself exclusively to sculpture with a performative dynamic that is still perceptible in the sculpture’s monumental dimension. In his works, the artist addresses the themes of family and home, but also refers to a voice of the common man and the stories of migration. Through the objects in his works he points towards truths of the marginalised sections of Indian society that struggle for their daily needs, but also the shimmering growth of the Indian economy. In addition to dealing with Indian popular, visual and spiritual culture, the artist's work also extends to the Western tradition.
One could say that the work of Gupta, moving from the countryside to the city, is an allegory of his own society, in all its aspects and social spheres. The monumental sculptures and installations of the artist, made by assembling hundreds of tools in sparkling stainless steel, for example, reflect the short-circuit between archaic and modern culture, traditions and change.

Artists

Adel Abdessemed Etel Adnan Ai Weiwei Leila Alaoui Juan Araujo Kader Attia Daniel Buren Cai Guo-Qiang Alejandro Campins Iván Capote Yoan Capote Loris Cecchini Elizabet Cerviño Chen Zhen Nikhil Chopra Marcelo Cidade Jonathas de Andrade Berlinde De Bruyckere Leandro Erlich Carlos Garaicoa Osvaldo González Antony Gormley Gu Dexin Shilpa Gupta Subodh Gupta Carsten Höller JR Ilya & Emilia Kabakov Zhanna Kadyrova Kan Xuan Anish Kapoor André Komatsu Jannis Kounellis Luis López-Chávez Jorge Macchi Ahmed Mater Cildo Meireles José Manuel Mesías Sabrina Mezzaqui Margherita Morgantin Moataz Nasr Hans Op de Beeck Ornaghi & Prestinari Giovanni Ozzola Susana Pilar Michelangelo Pistoletto Kiwon Park Qiu Zhijie Tobias Rehberger Arcangelo Sassolino Manuela Sedmach Serse Kiki Smith Nedko Solakov Marta Spagnoli José Antonio Suárez Londoño Hiroshi Sugimoto Sun Yuan & Peng Yu Ana Maria Tavares Pascale Marthine Tayou Armando Testa Nari Ward Sislej Xhafa José Yaque Zhuang Hui

Subodh Gupta: a visual voice for society

Artists