Pioneering Public Art Projects & Exhibitions on Environment Consciousness, Climate Change, Sustainability for Three Decades.
“Mesmerising, contemplative and labor-intensive..."
"In the wide world of contemporary public art, Manav Gupta has emerged as a visionary artist whose work transcends boundaries and captivates the imagination of audiences around the globe. His technical prowess in producing his large-scale environments—creating a sense of mass and space—is inspiring and evokes a sense of wonder. His work shares attributes or sensibilities with the works of other notable, pioneering environmental artists, such as the husband-and-wife duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Gupta’s work is powerful in its ability to remind us of Mother Nature, and the preciousness of the elements that make up our very existence."
"Gupta’s rise in the contemporary public art realm is a testament to his dedication to environment and climate consciousness, community engagement and artistic innovation. His ability to seamlessly blend tradition and innovation and his commitment to creating art with a higher purpose is a model for emerging artists today who strive to make a meaningful impact on society. Gupta’s journey serves as an inspiration for the ever-evolving field of public art, reminding us of the power of art to enrich and transform our lives and the world around us."
Jack Becker, Founder Emeritus, Forecast Public Art & Public Art Review | 2024
“I want to point out the deep spiritual and life-affirming place his work emanates from. He is interested in the sacred, but not from a religious point of view. Rather, he thinks about the flow of water, the meaning of light, and the sacredness of people and how they merge together. Manav comes from the sacred Ganges River to the sacred Mississippi River to explore what river is in our culture”
Jay Coogan, President, Minneapolis College of Art & Design | 2015
The Decade of 2010 - 2019
'To his credit, Manav has six most iconic and revolutionary art projects in India this decade’
Times of India | 2019
"In Gupta’s hands, clay is about transformation, regeneration, renewal and the cyclical nature of life. He knows that clay, with its deep cultural and artistic significance in India and around the world, can be both contemporary and traditional, and create a dialogue between the organic and the artistic."
Jack Becker, Founder Emeritus, Forecast Public Art & Public Art Review | 2024
2019
'Water - the new Gold'
by Manav Gupta
Public Notice | Public Art Museum on Water,
An Architectural Installation with Discarded Cement Blocks & Construction Scrap
10 installations & sculptures
📍 Bhubaneswar, ODISHA, India
Water the New Gold
Dimensions: 20 ft x 10 ft x 3 ft
Architectural Installation - City in a City
Dimensions: 40ft x 60ft x 40ft
The Royal Seat of the River
Dimensions: 7ft x 7ft x 2ft
Public Art Museum of Water
Dimensions: 40ft x 60ft x 60ft
Water Table Insignia - the Tubewell
Dimensions: 20 ft x 10 ft x 3 ft
Newborn Grass Twigs in a Sustainable City - the making
Dimensions: 40ft x 60ft x 60ft
2018
'arth - art for earth'
by Manav Gupta
Public Notice | Travelling Museum Laboratory of Art
Hosted by IGNCA, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India; across 23 Acres of its campus.
6 installations & sculptures
📍 Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, India 110001
river and the matighar
Dimensions: 30 ft x 60 ft x 40 ft
Hourglass - Time Machine - the sound of Aum
Dimensions: 7 ft x 15ft x 6 ft
Noah's Ark
Dimensions: 8 ft x 15ft x 20 ft
the bed of Life
Dimensions: 5 ft x 10 ft x 16 ft
the beehive garden project
Dimensions: 2 ft x 2 ft x 1 ft, 5 ft x 2 ft x 20 ft, Half an Acre
rainforest & the beehive garden
Dimensions: 30 ft x 150 ft x 140 ft
art
taking art
beyond art
thought
experiments & new layers of creations
conceptualised, led, created by Manav Gupta at the installations
SELECT EVENTS:
'Sculpture Garden'
by Manav Gupta
Public Notice | Travelling Prototype Museum Laboratory of Art
Hosted by a Private Collector at the artist's studio, Amirita Shergill Marg
6 installations & sculptures
📍 Artist's Studio, Private Collector's Residence, Amrita Shergill Marg, New Delhi, India 110003
river - sculpture garden
Dimensions: 20 ft x 20 ft x 40 ft
Hourglass - Time Machine
Dimensions: 7 ft x 5 ft x 5 ft
Noah's Ark
Dimensions: 8 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft
the bed of Life
Dimensions: 4 ft x 7 ft x 10 ft
the beehive garden project
Dimensions: 2 ft x 2 ft x 1 ft, 5 ft x 2 ft x 20 ft, Half an Acre
rain
Dimensions: 30 ft x 50 ft x 10 ft
Creating an Art Lab & Sculpture Garden
Prosaic can be Luxury
Power of thought Experiments
Lighting of Lamps
Connecting Nations through art & environment consciousness
Discourses with Influential stakeholders
2017
'Excavated Museum in a Mall - the Yamuna Project'
by Manav Gupta
Public Notice | Excavated Museum in a Mall - the Yamuna Project
Hosted by DLF, Mall of India
5 installations & sculptures
📍 DLF Mall of India, NCR, India 201301
Yamuna Waterfront
Dimensions: 15 ft x 20 ft x 50 ft
Hourglass - Time Machine
Dimensions: 10 ft x 6 ft x 6 ft
Noah's Ark
Dimensions: 10 ft x 6 ft x 6 ft
Meet me by the riverside - the bed of Love
Dimensions: 10 ft x 6 ft x 10 ft
the beehive garden project
Dimensions: 8 ft x 15 ft x 8 ft
SELECT EVENTS:
Excavated a Museum in a Mall
Poetry as Performance at the Waterfront - Earthen lamp Concert
Date: 15.01.2017
Thought Experiments - Prosaic to Luxury
Dialogues at the Waterfront - Panel Discussions
Event 1
Date: 22.01.2017
Meditation - Earthen Lamp Lighting
Date: 29.01.2017
Education Outreach
Date: 22.10.2018
“Artist Manav Gupta uses the most basic terracotta items in our everyday inventory and mounts an installation at a mall to convey his message of ecological sustainability."
The Pioneer | 2017
2015
'Rain, the Ganga Waterfront along Time Machine'
by Manav Gupta
Public Notice | River - Ganga Waterfront
Hosted by India Habitat Centre
Game Changing Public Art Project
📍 India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, India 110003
Ganga Waterfront
Dimensions: 45 ft x 60 ft x 45 ft
Medium: Terracotta Clay, Ceramic, Pottery, Glass, Galvanised Iron Wires, LED and Halogen Lights
Bringing a River into the Heart of a City
Dialogues at the Waterfront
Event 1
Date: 17.02.2015
Earthen lamp Concerts
Transforming Architecture into a Riparian Landscape
Meditation
Event 1
Date: 22.01.2015
Education Outreach
2014
'Umbilical Cords of Earth, Hourglass - Time Machine, Message in a Bottle'
by Manav Gupta
Permanent Collection, Worldmark, Aerocity
3 installations & sculptures | 20ft x 10ft Paintings
📍 WorldMark, Aerocity, IGI Airport Area, New Delhi, India 110037
Message in a Bottle
Dimensions: 15 ft x 5 ft x 5 ft
Hourglass - Time Machine
Dimensions: 8 ft x 5 ft x 5 ft
Umbilical Cords of Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Space
Dimensions: 20 ft x 10 ft
Umbilical Cords of Earth
Dimensions: 20 ft x 10 ft
2013
Artist's First Museum Exhibition:
'Rainforests and the Circle of Life - Unsung Hymns of Clay'
by Manav Gupta
Hosted by the Ditsong Museum of Natural History, Incredible India & the Indian High Commission of Pretoria
3 installations & sculptures | Paintings | Video Installations | Photographs
📍 The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, 432 Paul Kruger St, Pretoria Central, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
Shrinking River
Dimensions: 18 ft x 25 ft x 10 ft
Zen | Earth
Dimensions: 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft, 1ft x 1ft Glass 1, 2ft x 2ft Glass 2
Rainforests and the Timeless Metaphors of Dreams
Contemporary Miniatures, Imperials and Large Paintings | Oil on Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas, Watercolour on Paper
Triple Channel Video Installations
Dual Channel Films as Installations
Giving birth to a new Identity of ceramics - pottery as large scale environmental installations
Shrinking river on the floor of the Museum
Local to Global, "Gupta has universalised the Diya (Earthen Lamp)"
Transforming clay, the earth element to Water. (Earthen lamp to a water droplet)
First of their kind thought experiments
Education Outreach with local students in South Africa
2010
-2012
'Excavations in Hymns of Clay'
by Manav Gupta
Etymology of Excavations in Hymns of Clay art art for earth, unsung hymns of clay, Ganga, Large Scale Public Art Projects on Climate Change
12 installations & sculptures
📍 Artists Studio, New Delhi, India
river - water, waterbed
Dimensions: 15 ft x 10 ft x 100 ft
Hourglass - Time Machine
Dimensions: 6 ft x 4 ft x 4 ft
Noah's Ark
Dimensions: 8 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft
the bed
Dimensions: 4 ft x 6 ft x 10 ft
beehives
Dimensions: 2 ft x 2 ft x 1 ft, 5 ft x 2 ft x 20 ft, Half an Acre
rain
Dimensions: 20 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft
2010
Permanent Collection, Bharti Airtel · Limca Book of Records · Game Changer
Tree of Life - A World Record
by Manav Gupta
Permanent Collection, Bharti Airtel | Painting LIVE for three months as a continuous marathon project in front of 4000 employees Five-floor High, Tallest, Largest Indoor Staircase Mural, 11,500 Sq. Ft. Total Painted Surface, 5,000 Sq. Ft. Glass Facade. A WORLD RECORD
📍 Bharti Airtel Centre, Delhi NCR, India 122022
Tree of Life Mural
Dimensions: 100 ft x 50 ft x 10 ft
Medium: Acrylic Paints on Walls
A WORLD RECORD
Five-floor High
Tallest, Largest
Indoor Staircase Mural.
11,500 Sq. Ft. Total Painted Surface.
5,000 Sq. Ft. Glass Facade.
A WORLD RECORD
The Decade of 2000 - 2009
An artist with a repository of ideas ahead of time.
The decade of 2000 - 2009 saw the artist being firmly recognised as a pioneer of art for environment consciousness, climate change and sustainability in India, with his unique first of their kind thought experiments and innovative projects creating a movement of art for earth.
As also a pioneer of taking art beyond art amidst unconventional spaces with hitherto unexplored ideas.
His distinctive interdisciplinary practice with poetry, music, dance, science, and other streams along with education outreach programmes for students and unique co-creations and collaborations, with multiple disciplines were ahead of their time in India.
The above charting of new territories by the artist went on to be adopted extensively in the Indian contemporary art landscape in the following decades.
"Watercolours that stir your soul"
Cosmopolitan
"Passion that's patently obvious"
Indian Express
"Gupta is one of the few leading young painters today whose dexterity in exploring light and colour, with the most sensitive and delicate stroke-play, has fetched him critical acclaim"
Times of Oman
"Mass Teacher - For artist Manav Gupta, art is about engaging with people"
The Pioneer
All his landscapes, portraits and abstracts even, are dreamy, fluid, almost honeyed. The use of colours is excellent, the paintings all interestingly titled, give definite direction to the spectators’ interpretation.
First City
2008
-2009
Curtain Raiser Travelling Trilogy II · Copenhagen Wall of Hope · Climate Change · Sustainability
On my eyot, rainforests and the umbilical cords | Copenhagen Wall of Hope
by Manav Gupta
Exhibition: On my eyot, rainforests and the umbilical cords
Curtain Raiser Exhibition for Travelling Trilogy II’ to USA, Europe & UK, 2010
Artist Monographs Published by ICCR
Hosted by ICCR, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India, New Delhi, India
Special Commissioned Project: Copenhagen Wall of Hope, on the occasion of Copenhagen Summit
Copenhagen Wall of Hope, CNN IBN, New Delhi, India
📍 ICCR, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India, Azad Bhawan Rd, New Delhi, 110002
"Let us stop a while...
while doing what we are doing, and begin to change what we can change…
I want to drive home the message that we have to go beyond Copenhagen, beyond drawing room politics and sensitise ourselves, and try and make a change on an individual level. The change needs to be from within us otherwise the generations to come will suffer"
"Beyond Politics, Beyond Copenhagen, For Our Children"
– Treatise by the artist, published on the occasion of the artist's Travelling trilogy, Lectures and Films on Sustainable development (2009 -2010)
International News Broadcast | CNN IBN
Copenhagen Wall of Hope
CNN IBN commissioned the artist on the occasion of Copenhagen summit to create a painting where they serialised the artists depiction of destruction caused by human intervention in nature.
2007
Bonhams · Permanent Collection - Royal Family of Oman · Travelling Trilogy
Travelling Trilogy I - Muscat, Oman | Bonhams, London | Hitachi, Singapore
by Manav Gupta
Travelling Trilogy of Interdisciplinary Practices, Environmental Films Telecast and Public Exhibition - Muscat, Oman
Hosted by Omani Fine Arts Society, Grand Hyatt, Muscat, Oman
Auctions & Public Art Projects:
Bonhams Charity Auction, London, United Kingdom
Hitachi Singapore : Limited Edition Screens featuring Manav Gupta's Paintings.
📍 112 Ruwi Saltanate of Oman, Saltanate of Oman, 4008
📍 Kensington Palace, London, United Kingdom
Travelling Trilogy of Interdisciplinary Practices, Performance Art Concerts, Environmental Films Telecast and Public Exhibition - Muscat, Oman
Hosted by Omani Fine Arts Society, Grand Hyatt, Muscat, Oman
Non Limiting Horizons
Acrylic on Canvas
60 inches x 36 inches
Bonhams Auction: Lot No 75,
Sold,
June, 2007
London, United Kingdom
2006
Christies · Sanatan Kalakriti Award · Ministry of Forests & Environment, Govt of India
Christies Charity Auction | Short environmental films as PSAs
by Manav Gupta
Christies Charity Auction, British High Commission, New Delhi, India
One minute environmental films
Film screenings & Public telecast on National TV Doordarshan etc
First Artist to receive the Sanatan Kalakariti Puraskar, Presented by the French Ambassador to India
📍 British High Commission, New Delhi, India 110021
📍 Ministry of Forests & Environment, Govt of India
Artist's film screening - National Television Broadcast
One minute & 30 Second Short films commissioned by Ministry of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India at the Copenhagen Summit and on Indian television.
2005
Residency - First Artist in Residence at the President of India's Official Residence · Rainforests · Lyrics of Light · Rainforests · National Prayer
Shoonya ( Nothingness) – from Beyond | The Life Tree, Collaborative Book of Poems & Paintings Project (2002-2005) | Public Art Project 1: Environmental Films as Public Service Messages | Public Art Project 2: Green Thumb Pledge - Education Outreach - School Students
by Manav Gupta
Exhibition: Shoonya ( Nothingness) – from Beyond Hosted by the Lalit Kala Academy (National Academy of Art, India)
One Minute & 30 Second Films on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Sustainability and Environment Consciousness as Public Service Messages | Public Art Project | Commissioned by Ministry of Forests & Environment, Govt of India
Book Launch: The Life Tree (Poetry by Hon'ble President of India Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Paintings by Manav Gupta)
📍 Lalit Kala Academy (National Academy of Art)35, Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi-110001
📍 Rashtrapati Bhawan, President's Estate, New Delhi, India 110004
📍 Ministry of Forests & Environment, Govt of India
"Let us stop a while...
while doing what we are doing, and begin to change what we can change…
Manav Gupta
Thought Experiments & Education Outreach - art for earth – at the Exhibition, The Green Thumb Pledge, Published Documenta, 'Stop a While...'
"I Pledge 10000 of my students to you"
Shyama Chona, Principal, DPS R. K Puram
2003
-2004
Victoria Jones Gallery, London, United Kingdom · Umbilical Cords of Earth
On my eyot - Lyrics of Light | Umbilical Cords of Earth & Shoonya (from beyond)
by Manav Gupta
Exhibition: On my eyot - Lyrics of Light
Victoria Jones Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Umbilical Cords of Earth & Shoonya (from beyond)
Exhibition of Paintings at Rashtrapati Bhawan, ‘Art as Learning Classroom’ Education Project for students on Climate Change | Rashtrapati Bhavan, Official Residence of the President of India, New Delhi, India
📍 Victoria Jones Gallery, London, United Kingdom
📍 Rashtrapati Bhawan, President's Estate, New Delhi, India 110004
2003
Residency - First Artist in Residence at the President of India's Official Residence · Rainforests · Lyrics of Light · Rainforests · National Prayer
First Artist in Residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Invited by Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, President of India | Exhibition: Rainforests – On my eyot | World Environment Day | ‘Plant a Sapling on my Canvas’
by Manav Gupta
A Three Year collaboration of creating a book of poems by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and mirroring paintings by Manav Gupta | The Life Tree | Published by Penguin
First Artist to be invited for Residency – Interdisciplinary Practices of Painting and Poetry | The Life Tree | First Artist in Residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Invited by Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, President of India
‘Plant a Sapling on my Canvas’ – Public Notice, Exhibition & Public Art Project by artist – inviting people and children from all walks of life to paint with the artist and take a pledge for trees ‘Art as Learning Classroom’ Education Project for students on Climate Change. Hosted by the The Park Hotel, New Delhi
📍 The Park Hotel, New Delhi, India
📍 Rashtrapati Bhawan, President's Estate, New Delhi, India 110004
The Life Tree
A Three Year collaboration of creating a book of poems by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and mirroring paintings by Manav Gupta | The Life Tree | Published by Penguin
First Artist in Residence
First Artist in Residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Invited by Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, President of India
Education Outreach
Engagement with School Children on Art & Science & Culture
2002
Rainforests · Sparks · Non Limiting Horzions · Lyrics of Light
Sense Essence, Non Limiting horizons & Lyrics of Light on my eyot | ‘Sparks’ Exhibition & Book Release | Special Commissioned Project: Business Leadership Awards as the artist’s paintings
by Manav Gupta
Hosted by the Leela Palace, Bangalore, Karanataka, India Sense to Essence, Pratirupa Pururpa, Leela Palace, Bangalore, India
June 7 - June 28, 2002
Sparks - Book of Poems & Paintings | Business Leadership Awards | 'Jugalbandi' - Pioneering Performance Art in India
Business Leadership Awards to Kumar Mangalam Birla and K. V Kamath | Sparks, a book by Smt Shiela Gujral, former First Lady to former Prime Minister of India, Dr I. K Gujral | Jugalbandi, a performance art concert in India, with Shubha Mudgal
📍 The Leela Palace, Bangalore, Karanataka, India
📍 India International Centre, New Delhi, India
📍 Times of India & Amity Foundation, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
2001
Umbilical Cords of Earth · Rainforests · Lyrics of Light
Aqueous Dreams – Circle of Life
by Manav Gupta
Exhibition hosted by the Roosevelt House, U.S. Ambassador’s residence, New Delhi, India. February 26 – February 27, 2000
📍 The Roosevelt House, U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, India 110021
2000
Rainforests · Lyrics of Light
Rainforests & Lyrics of Light
by Manav Gupta
Exhbition Hoted by the HRD Ministry, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India, New Delhi, India
📍 HRD Ministry, New Delhi, India 110001
1999
Rainforests · Non Limiting Horizons · Lyrics of Light
India Awaiting - Timeless Metaphors of Dreams
by Manav Gupta
Exhibition: Earth Series, Umbilical Cords of Earth, Rainforests Series, Haiku Poems, Exhibition of Paintings & Sculptures | Hosted by the Taj Palace, New Delhi August 15 - 17, 1996
📍 Taj Palace, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, India 110021
"He Is Different"
Outlook
"Versatility his Forte – Gupta is gifted with a knack for seeing the unseen... Nature in all its mysteries and manifestation seems to have gripped his mind as reflected in most of his works."
The Statesman
1997
Earth Series · Seeing the Unseen · Calcutta
Earth Series - Freedom to be Different
by Manav Gupta
Exhibition: Earth Series, Founding arth, Nature as a Laboratory, Contemporary miniatures, 'seeing the unseen', 'freedom to be different' | Hosted by the Taj Bengal, Kolkata. August 15 - 17, 1996
📍 Taj Bengal, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 700029
"Exuberant and Reflective. The artist has a fine sense of colour"
The Economic Times
"Earth tones dominate the works of Manav Gupta"
The Statesman
1996
First Solo Exhibition · Permanent Collection · Calcutta
Sylvan Musings | The Tribal Terrain
First Solo - Birla Academy of Art & Culture
Open- Air Public Art Exhibition of Paintings & Sculptures | April 2, 1996
📍 Birla Academy of Fine Arts, Southern Ave, Ballygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 700029
As I began my early explorations of 'light' as 'hope' the transparency of the glass against the autobiographical imagery of the man peeping through the darkness inside bore a certain solitude lamenting a certain inner pain. But it also looked at light and hope in the world outside, in which the protagonist was about to step in.
Manav Gupta
The open air exhibition proved to by my tryst with destiny as it planted the seeds of public art and making art available for all – a practice and vision that I have remained committed to.
Manav Gupta
"Different Strokes – Why Manav Gupta is an artist with a difference."
The Telegraph
"Young Artist's First Solo at the Birla Academy of Art And Culture"
The Statesman
Early Life
National Library Campus, Horticulture Gardens
Childhood
Paintings | Trees | In the Lap of Nature | 1967 - 1996
📍 Academy of Fine Arts, National Library Campus, Horticulture Gardens, Presidency College, Kolkata
"My childhood has had a very deep and profound impact on my life and art.
I grew up in the lap of nature and heritage in the National Library Campus of Calcutta.
Trees nurtured me as I sketched their sculptural forms. Rainforests got implanted early in my vision. Poetry came from my parents who were scholars. Music, dance and the performing arts were part of life. The rural landscape of Bengal that I frequented, kept my imagination alive.
Manav Gupta
