Dozens of woollen garments are stitched together into piles and spread across the gallery floor and walls. Stuffed forms are bundled together with ropes that intertwine their fate, like the faceless people, who do everyday work in the periphery. “In an urban space we are all strangers, scared of each other’s strangeness,” says Chintan Upadhyay. These faceless forms seem to suggest a departure from the artist’s trademark sculptures of babies, through whom he addressed multiple concerns, but Upadhyay differs. “These works have a childlike and playful projection, although with a dark shade. The boxes with stuffed garments are like toys. So in a way these metaphors are not divorced from the spirit of my previous works,” says the 42-year-old, who has drawn from his own experiences for the solo titled “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron-Redux” at Gallery Espace.
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The medium is a tribute to childhood memories of his mother selling knitted garments. Living in a one-room home in Jaipur, for the family of five this was a cooperative engagement, where everyone chipped in. “Even guests used to end up winding the yarn ball,” says Upadhyay. He points to a knitted red woollen in the shape of a caterpillar, enclosed in a box. “My sister made this. The box denotes the confined domestic space that could get suffocating,” he says. Another seven-foot sweater Weigh me up Weigh me down, suspended from a weighing scale, has been knitted by his mother and several others with seconds purchased from Delhi’s Sarojini Market.
The solo in India comes after five years, a long hiatus for a mid career artist, who has shifted from Mumbai to Delhi. Last year, he had even proposed using his Green Park home as an exhibition space, but neighbours protested, anticipating crowds. “In some ways you are a mere spectator in your own house,” says the Charles Wallace Foundation Award recipient.
Son of abstract expressionist Vidyasagar Upadhyay, he had seen his father struggle to make ends meet. “I had decided never to take up art as a profession but I think it flourished in my genes,” he says. So even though he enrolled to graduate in science, soon he was assisting his father at the Rajasthan Art College. Followed by art education at MS University of Baroda, Upadhyay was in Mumbai to pursue his artistic dreams.
The big break came in 2002, with the solo “Commemorative Stamps”. Two years later, babies became his leitmotif — from being innocent onlookers (Take Me Home series, 2004) to hybridised products of modern day world (Mutants series, 2006), from Smart Alec babies they became Chintu. Through them he discussed a range of issues, from female infanticide to morality and gender politics. The palette too changed, from miniature paintings on their large heads to Japanese Manga and traditional Shekhawati wall paintings. In 2009, he took the babies for a bath when he dipped them in Mumbai’s effluent-laden Mithi river. “The filth created its own texture. Some works were deformed and there was coating of muck on others,” says Upadhyay.
The outing was described as gimmicky, but Upadhyay is no stranger to criticism. His nude act in 2005 invited considerable wrath. Empathising with the angst of the victims of the 2002 Godhra riots, Upadhyay sat nude at Sarjan Art Gallery in Vadodara. Viewers were invited to daub him with turmeric kept by his side. “During the post-Godhra riots men were stripped to identify which religion they belonged to. I wanted to reconstruct the incident differently,” says the artist.
While several international outings are lined-up for the rest of the year, Upadhyay is also occupied with Sandarbh, his non-profit organisation that brings artists from India and the world to Partapur in Rajasthan. “Our focus will shift from residencies to projects. We will make a sort of network connecting Delhi, Partapur and Mumbai,” he says.
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Waiting at the studio are more than a couple of unfinished babies. Upadhyay intends to return to them in a few months. “I like to leave them alone for a bit,” he says. In the spotlight will be one particular baby — a
10-feet Chintu, which will be installed at Nariman Point in Mumbai next month. This, too, will depict personal memories — of Mumbai, which was the artist’s home for more than a decade.
The exhibition is on at Gallery Espace, 16, Community Centre, New Friends Colony until May 31. Contact: 26326267
Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice.
With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India.
Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale.
She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters.
Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory.
The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions.
Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović).
Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers.
Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)
Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India:
1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival
"At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors.
"Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers.
"At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025).
"Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention.
2. M.F. Husain & Modernism
"Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum.
"Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025).
3. Art Market & Records
"Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million.
"All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025).
"What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork.
4. Art Education & History
"Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025).
"A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art.
Signature Beats
Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More
