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Biju Joze

Biju Joze was born in 1972 in Bangalore. He obtained a Bachelor's in Fine Art from the College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore in 1996. He later specialized in sculpture and completed his Master's in Fine Art from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1999.

"The multilayered relationship between man and object in the real world is one of the central focuses of Biju Joze's art. He subjects the original form of an object to several manipulations, playing with scale, function and context. The subsequent narrations are the result of a process of fragmentation and reconstruction, through concept and material."

Lina Vincent Sunish

Chittrovanu Mazumdar

Chittrovanu Mazumdar was born in 1956 in Paris. He graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kolkata with a First Class in Painting in 1981. He later studied painting and print-making at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts Paris in 1983.

Unrestrained in his artistic impulses, Mazumdar has explored a broad spectrum of media and technology in his work. Making references to his own culturally rich upbringing in Kolkata and Paris the artist employs bold brushstrokes, layered imagery and elements of collage in his work, bringing forward the emotive qualities of any medium he works with. His body of work is characterized by shifts in style and form, starting with painting and moving to multi-media environments, sound and sculpture.

Mazumdar's work can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and the Seagull Foundation, Kolkata.

Hema Upadhyay

Hema Upadhyay was born in 1972 in Baroda. She obtained both her Bachelor's and Master's in Fine Art from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1995 and 1997, respectively.

Upadhyay uses two media in her art, photography and painting. Her work is a chronicle about the individual perspective of a collective experience, migration and displacement. Upadhyay's narrative speaks strongly of Mumbai, (where she migrated to from Baroda) a crowded, busy and multi-cultural city where the masses flock in pursuit of their aspirations.

Typically Upadhyay's works are site specific. The artist also creates spaces in her framed multi-media works as in this case where she depicts a woman and mannequin nestled amongst still-life ornamentation.

The figures move between stillness and agony, flipping the double-sided coin of domestic fantasy. An uneasy link between the woman as a subject and as an object prevails. Upadhyay's trademark is the use of her own photographic image within her work enabling the nature of her portrayal to become autobiographical.

Parul Thacker

Parul Thacker was born in 1973 in Mumbai. She studied at the Sophia Polytechnic College of Art and Design, Mumbai, in 1993. In 2008 she was awarded the Premio Valcellina Award by the Le Arti Tessili Association in Italy.

Thacker's works are characterized by complex abstract formations that are created by the composition and textures of the organic materials she employs.

Using holy ash from sacred places, Himalayan crystals, cotton fabric, nylon filament and fishing net on hand-made paper Thacker's three dimensional filigree works resemble decadent webs where nature and technology mingle harmoniously but remain distinctly separate. Within the complicated layers crystalline rocks glisten and structures akin to astrological charts and geographical terrain emerge.

Sajal Sarkar

Sajal Sarkar was born in 1963, Kolkata. He obtained a Bachelor's in Fine Art specialising in Painting from the Government College of Art and Craft in Kolkata in 1989. He then spent four years working at the Lalit Kala Akademi in Kolkata as a practicing artist. In 1995 he completed his Postgraduate Diploma in Graphics from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.

Sarkar's work is mostly characterized by male figures with accentuated features. Neither vulgar nor sensational, these figures represent strength and are aesthetic in their form. Employing oil, charcoal or any other medium, Sarkar experiments with medium and message, creating a vivid representation of his subjects.

Sarkar's works are collected by important institutions such as the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, the Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata and the Madhavan Nair Art Foundation, Kerala.

Simrin Mehra-Agarwal

Simrin Mehra-Agarwal was born in 1979 in Kolkata. She obtained a Bachelor's in Fine Art from the Delhi College of Art in 2002 and later completed her Master's in Fine Art from there in 2004.

A descendant of the royal family of Jhargram that has a legacy spanning 500 years, Agarwal grew up hearing stories of her family's past glory, power and wealth. Her work examines the history and transitional phase of royalty from grandeur to decline, from medieval to the post-colonial era, from monarchy to democracy.

The artist shows cross-sections of heritage buildings, pillars, ancient sculptures, antique objects, all clubbed together and placed randomly out of their original historical context. This arrangement creates an imaginary museum that stimulates an appreciation of antiquity and feelings of nostalgia that stem from her attempt to recreate these forms and immortalize them.

Sumedh Rajendran

Sumedh Rajendran was born in 1972 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Sculpture from the College of Fine Arts in Kerala in 1994, and obtained his Master's degree from the Delhi College of Art in 1999.

In his work Rajendran explores the ideas that help deepen his understanding of the irrational nature of hypocrisy. He re-constitutes theft, killings and destruction within his mixed media works. Hollow, lifeless bodies left for dead on the ground are often centrally located in Rajendran's works. Men and politicians are portrayed precariously on their last legs as the ground beneath them shifts, the foundations no longer supported by any system.

Employing a deliberately restrained lexicon of images, stripped down to essential, stylised outlines the artist combines the sophistication of high finish with the unpredictability of improvisation. Using photographs, installations or mixed media on paper, Rajendran makes a conscious decision to raise awareness about the world around him.