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 following their idiosyncratic requirements. In their homogeneity and vaguely disturbing artificiality, they highlight the rampant commercialism we see around us. Often overtly sexual Shekhawat Miniatures appear on the body of the work, suggestive of the contradictions within the artist’s own mind and practice.

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 brutally dictated by market forces. Chintan Upadhyay has shown in several galleries around the world including Gallery Espace, New Delhi; Leela Kempinski Art Gallery, Mumbai; Seoul Art Centre, South Korea and Grosvenor Gallery, London. He is a recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust 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 around the globe.