Akara Art

DHRUVA MISTRY

Akara Contemporary

1957

Born in 1957 in Gujarat, Dhruva Mistry is an Indian sculptor whose oeuvre ranges from small-scale domestic pieces to monumental public commissions. He studied sculpture at the M. S. University of Baroda, and then at the Royal College of Art, London.

Drawing inspiration from ancient and modern civilizations, he uses a variety of materials and genres to explore cultural tensions. Mistry’s works have a metaphorical mode of expression, which tap into myth, literature, and religion and have a broad contemporary ring. The artist has been working with steel since 1999 but turned to metal sheets only in 2003. His recent works explore digitally controlled laser-cutting techniques, a methodology he has been experimenting with since 2001. The richness of Mistry's imagery lies in his capacity to re-examine, re-interpret, and represent the most ancient symbols through a contemporary lens. Mistry rejects the belief that his sculptures are derived from religious iconography and instead claims them as references to things that he sees and observes. His practice focuses on the most salient qualities of form—its texture, beauty, and shape.

Best known for his stainless-steel freestanding sculptures, he explores materiality in terms of its contrast and scale. In addition to his sculptures, his recent exhibition hosted his Digital Drawings, which have been a work-in-progress since the mid 1990s. The subjects of his drawings include shapes and images, as well as silhouettes of the relief sculptures. His interest in pictorial forms in space contain parts as well as the whole forms with lines and colors.

As a senior contemporary artist represented by Akara, his solo exhibitions with the gallery include ‘At The Turn Of Form’, Akara Contemporary, Mumbai (2023) and ‘New Work 1999 - 2019: Dhruva Mistry’, Akara Art, Mumbai (2019). Other solo exhibitions by the artist include 'Dhruva Mistry: The Human Abstract', Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2016), 'Something Else', Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai (2014) and 'Dhruva Mistry: Bronzes 1987- 1990', Grosvenor Gallery, London (2011) among others. His participation in recent group exhibitions include the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2023), ‘South Asian Modern Art’, Grosvenor Gallery, London (2023), ‘Let Me Tell You A Story…Part I’, Curated by Luiza Teixeira De Freitas, Akara Contemporary, Mumbai (2023), ‘The First Contemporaries’, Akara Art, Mumbai (2022), and ‘The Idolized Muses’, Akara Art, Mumbai (2021) and India Art Fair (2022, 2020, 2019, 2013). Mistry’s public art sculptures occupy spaces like the Victoria Square in Birmingham, Goodwood in Sussex, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Hakone Museum in Japan etc.

The artist lives and works in Vadodara.

Curriculum Vitae