Home Chintan Upadhyay
About
Chintan Upadhyay is a young painter who gains expertise in creating two rich and divergent styles of painting: miniature paintings reflecting the tradition of his native state, Rajasthan and abstract expressionism through the influence of his father. His artwork usually covers subject matters that revolve around animated and stylized babies. There is a revelation that his artworks mostly depict the cultural hybridism of current times and colors used in paintings reminiscence the traditional Indian art.
Born in 1972 in the state of Rajasthan, Chintan Upadhyay grew interested in painting at an early age. His father is reported to be the man behind encouraging Upadhyay to choose painting as a career. While staying in Baroda, he was inspired from the artworks of Gulam Shaikh and Bhoopain Kulkar and as a result, most of his works exposed narrative style of painting, which was a fad in those times.
Education & Work
After leaving the Jaipur School of Art in the midway of his graduation, he pursued his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maharaja Sayajirao University taking Painting as his area of expertise. He completed his BFA in the year 1995 and after two years, he succeeded in holding the degree of Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from the same university.
After completing his studies, Upadhyay migrated to Mumbai, wooed by the cosmopolitan tenor of the city. He realized that this city has full of energy, vitalizing the mind and body. When he began spending days in Mumbai, he realized a sense of alienation from its inhabitants which he depicted in his paintings. Most of his works are alien-like that have been critically acclaimed across the globe. He used to experiment with caricature, making a mockery of the world around him in his several artworks integrated with visual jokes and puns. Upadhyay is known for portraying “eerie images” in order for separating his works from others. He often leaves his canvases incomplete, allowing art lovers to conjecture that he may return to complete his unfinished sketches. Some of the popular paintings of Chintan showcased in art exhibitions across the globe include Nature God (Sakshi Gallery, Taipei), Mistake (Aicon Gallery, London), Metastasis of Signs (Gallery Escape, New Delhi), I want to ben an international artist, solo performance (Seoul Art Center, Korea), Conkers Installation Project (Spike Island, Bristol, UK), Floating thoughts, interactive site specific installation (Brisbane, Australia), to name a few.
Awards and Accolades
In the year 2004-05, Chintan was awarded with Charles Wallace Foundation Award for a residency in Bristol in the UK. In addition to that, he was honored with Gadi scholarship, NLKA, New Delhi for his outstanding works in the field of painting. He also received accolades from Lalit Kala Academy and All India Avantika art exhibition for creation of masterpieces that hammer an established aesthetics. For those who don’t know, he was honored by Lalit Kala Academy for three consecutive years for outstanding painting in the annual exhibition.
