Ved Gupta nurtured a dream of becoming an engineer but he failed to qualify. He left his hometown in Bihar and ended up in Delhi and then Pilani in Rajasthan where he worked with a master sculptor. Later, he got a post-graduate degree in sculpture and a gold medal from the M S University Vadodara. He was swayed by a kind of cheekiness in his work, which according to him “didn’t go down well with his tutors.” But Gupta had found his calling. So what truly led him to art from the world of gadgets and technology? “The language of art has always appealed to me,” he says, “I have always wanted to make a political statement and give back to the society with whatever I did. Art gave me a way of expressing that and connecting with the society.”

In Gupta’s amusing world of painted fibre-glass sculptures, there is no room for humour. He cuts right through the society’s apparent evils. His sculptures draw from his perception of the inequalities and injustices of the class-structured society of modern India. “I studied our history thoroughly. It’s important to do so to understand art. What struck me most was that the protagonist was always depicted as larger than life”, explains the 33-year-old artist. “The working class even say ‘badein log’. So those in power are portrayed as dwarfed caricatures,” he says. The common man who is bullied by the corrupt is represented by the elongated naked oppressed figure of the labourer.

He lashes out at the uber class through his canvasses too. But it’s the sculptures that command your attention. After being a part of various group exhibitions for the last four years, his first solo showing was held at Gallery Threshold in Delhi last month. He was one among the five artists from India to showcase under the Best of Discovery section at Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair this year. As cities grow and societies change, you are eager to see how Gupta’s artistic representation will be affected. “The sculptures will change. I don’t know what form they’ll take. Maybe I will clothe the common man, put him in a suit, or even change the way he looks?”

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