Subodh Gupta (b. 1964, India) is known for sculptures and installations that incorporate objects commonly seen in India, such as mass-produced stainless-steel household utensils and bicycles with milk pails. These everyday items are carefully selected to reflect the social and political economies of Gupta’s homeland, while acknowledging references from the history of art. For example, a parallel can be drawn between the containers used in Hungry God—a consequence of industry and consumption—and the vessels of offerings depicted in classical, mythological paintings. Elevating ubiquitous items as art, Gupta explores their symbolisms and transformative powers. In recent years he has shifted his attention from mass-produced stainless-steel objects to found ones. This is after becoming fascinated by the traces, such as scratches and dents, left on found objects by their previous owners, altering the inanimate into items charged with stories of lives lived.

Gupta has long explored the effects of cultural translation and dislocation through his work and is interested in what inevitably disappears in the process of change. His ideas have taken shape in a variety of different media: from film, video and performance to sculpture of steel, bronze or marble, and painting. Gupta employs these media for both their aesthetic properties and conceptual significance and connotations.

Gupta’s works have been exhibited in major museums internationally, such as Monnaie de Paris, France (2018); Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, United Kingdom (2017); Art Basel, Switzerland (2017), The Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art, United States (2017); National Gallery of Victoria, Australia (2016); Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Germany (2014); and Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland (2013). His participation in international biennales include the Venice Biennale (2005); Havana Biennale (2003); Busan Biennale (2002); and Gwangju Biennale (2000) and most recently, the Bukhara Biennial (2025). For his contributions to contemporary art, Gupta was awarded the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Letters by the French government in 2013.