Born in 1964 in Khagaul, Bihar, Subodh Gupta studied at the College of Art, Patna from 1983 to 1988. Trained as a painter, he has experimented with a lot of other media. While stainless steel is Gupta’s signature medium, he has also masterfully executed works in bronze, marble, brass and wood while dialoguing with found and manipulated objects on the circumstances of contemporary India. Drawing mainly from everyday objects and scenarios, his works show the effects of consumerism and the modernization of traditional Indian society. Gupta's work features how the shifting economic and cultural landscape of the country that is brimming with desire for materialism and political chaos is what is shaping the future rather than our traditions. By using quintessentially Indian icons that possess innate dichotomies, Gupta questions the ambivalence of a society caught between traditional customs and globalization.

He has exhibited all over the world, notably including with Hauser & Wirth in New York and Nature Morte in New Delhi. The artist lives and works in Delhi.