Biography

Dipali Gupta’s art practice is an exploration of societal constructs from the domain of the feminine. Influenced by Foucauldian biopolitics, religious habituations, socio-political constructs, and its psychosomatic effects, Dipali’s experimental works question the normative and strive to reclaim space and meaning. Her concepts usually defy myths of domestication, reproduction, spectatorship, self, and identity. Set amongst Deleuzian societies of control, her practice subverts notions of patriarchy, androcentricity and binarism. Her multi-disciplinary approach re-appropriate less significant genres by layering concepts with artistic and social canons. Her research interests include feminist theory, post humanism, the body and identity politics.

Dipali was nominated finalist for The Sovereign Asian Art Prize, 2022 and winner of the prestigious Chan Davies Art Prize in 2018. Her series titled ‘Her Pleasure’ examine contemporary notions of female sexuality and explore the concept of the assemblage and Donna Haraway’s cyborg. The absence of the female body in her drawings, videos, and performance rupture the signifier of female sexuality which is traditionally lauded to be sexual and objectified for the male gaze.

Dipali Gupta currently lives in Kuala Lumpur. Her work has been exhibited in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur with expositions and symposium in Portugal, London, Miami, Paris and New Delhi. A graduate from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore and Goldsmith’s University, London, Dipali was nominated for the Young Master’s Art Prize 2019 and The Wells Art Contemporary Award 2020, London. She was selected for the Drawing Research Residency 2020 by L’AIR Arts, Paris and co-moderates the reading group, ‘Constructing the Body’ for Malaysia Design Archive. Her recent projects include The Ilham Art Show, 2022, Singapore Art Week 2021 and NAFAS, Mayabank Emerging Women Artists of 2021.

Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India

Exhibitions

2022 – Solo Exhibition – Desire Lines, The Backroom, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2022 – Freedom Film Festival, Pandemik Dua Darjat, Malaysia

2022 – The ILHAM Art Show, 2022, Ilham Gallery, Malaysia

2022 – The Sovereign Asian Art Prize (Finalist), 2022, Art Central, Hong Kong

2022 – Group Exhibition – The BackRoom Show, Art for All- ArtExpo, GMBB, KL, Malaysia

2021 – Open Studio – Japan Foundation, Japan Festival @ The Zongshan Building, KL, Malaysia

2021 – Group Exhibition – Artists of SEA, 1000 Tiny Artworks, KL, Malaysia

2021 – Curatorial Selection – ROMBAK, Multi Media University, KL, Malaysia

2021 – Group Exhibition – NAFAS, Maybank Show for Emerging Women Artists, Malaysia

2021 – Group Exhibition – International Festival of Manuports, Helsinki

2021 – Group Exhibition – Resituating Home (Making): Hyper-material Domesticity, Singapore Art Week

2021 – Public space Installation – Artwalk Little India, Singapore, Singapore Art Week

2020 – Solo Exhibition – Uncertain Relaxation, Mutual Aids Project, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

2020 – Group Exhibition – Wells Art Contemporary Awards 2020, London, UK

2020 – Group Exhibition – In Spite Of…, An Initiative of Tropical Lab, Lasalle College, Singapore

2020 – Group Exhibition – Drawing Us In II, The Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, USA

2020 – 5 minutos de Desenho, Belas-Artes Ulisboa (National Academy of Fine Arts – Lisbon), Portugal

2020 – Group Exhibition – iPreciation, Singapore, cancelled to 2021 due to Covid 19

2020 – Group Exhibition – Chan + Hori Contemporary, Singapore, cancelled due to Covid 19

2019 – Group Exhibition – Young Master’s Art Prize, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London

2019 – Group Exhibition – I Am, But Also, Ultra Super New. Singapore

2019 – Experimental Exhibition – Apotheca, Suma Orientalis, Kuala Lumpur

2019 – Permanent Installation – Did They Live Happily Ever After? ChinaHouse, Penang, Malaysia

2019 – Group Exhibition – Open Studios Penang, Penang, Malaysia

2019 – Group Exhibition – Bedroom Zine Club at Bedroom TKT, Hong Kong

2019 – Group Exhibition – Artwalk Little India at Ultra Super New in collaboration with Singapore Art Week (SG)

2018 – Group Exhibition – TCC Art Moves, Singapore

2018 – Group Exhibition – Sound Reasons, Korean Cultural Centre, New Delhi

2018 – Group Exhibition – Fan Death in Bedroom, Hong Kong – The Little Death

2018 – Solo Exhibition – Chan Davies Art Prize 2018, Chan + Hori Contemporary, Singapore – O Her!

2018 – Group Exhibition – MeshMinds 1.0, Art Science Museum, Singapore – Singapore Sound Sculptures

2018 – Group Exhibition – ASEAN Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, High Commission of India, Singapore

2017 – Group Exhibition – One Night Only, McNally School of Fine Arts – #HerPleasure Performance

2017 – Collaboration with BA (Hons) Musical Theatre, McNally School of Fine Arts – Picasso’s Women

2016 – Group Exhibition – One Night Only, LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore

2015 – Group Exhibition – Collective Consciousness, The Arts House, Singapore

Writing, Seminars & Symposiums

2022 – Docent – Ilham Art Gallery, Malaysia for the Ilham Art Show

2022 – Residency – L’AIR Arts, Intercultural exchange, Paris

2021 – Essay Writing – Carrier Bag: Gathering as Collecting, Women Collectors of Malaysia

2021 – Reading Group, Co-Moderator – Constructing the Body, Malaysia Design Archive, Kuala Lumpur

2020 – Podcast – Shangri-La ART Podcast by Chan + Hori Contemporary

2020 – Residency – L’Air Paris, postponed to October 2021 due to Covid 19

2019 – Speaker – FEMeeting 2019, Portugal

2019 – Panel Discussion – Panelist S.E.A. Focus – Art Making in Singapore, Opportunities and Challenges

2019 – Writer – Art & Market – artandmarket.net

2018 – Dissertation Presentation Seminar – Trans/Missions 2018 – McNally School of Fine Arts

2018 – Writer – Praxis Press – Review of MA Symposium 2018

2017 – Writer – Praxis Press – Review of Singapore Biennale 2017

Education and Work Experience

August 2015 – 2018

Bachelor of Fine Arts, McNally School of Fine Arts, LaSalle College of the Arts & Goldsmith University London, Singapore

2014

Certificate in Western Art, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore

Certificate in Abstract Art, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore

2013

Docent – Singapore Art Museum

Certificate in Modern Art History, LaSalle

College of the Arts, Singapore

Certificate in Drawing Using the Right Side of the Brain, LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore

Assistant Curator, Redress, a non-profit art show for Bamboo Networks, Singapore

2012

Counselor, Anonymous Testing Clinic, Action for Aids

2011 – 2002: Marketing & Advertising

Manager – Marketing and Brand – Kalpataru Retail Ventures Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai

Group Brand Director – Bates Asia, Mumbai

Deputy Manager, Marketing – Future Group, Mumbai

Strategic Planner – Lowe Lintas, Mumbai

Account Manager – Lowe Scanad, Nairobi, Kenya

Senior Account Executive – Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai

2001: Higher Education

Master’s in Commerce & Economics, University of Mumbai, 2001

Post Graduate in Management and Business Administration, Mumbai Educational Trust,

Specialization – Marketing, 2001

Certified Bartender, Movie Buff and Yoga fan

Press Mentions / Interviews:

BBC Click, UK – January 13, 2018 – Singapore Sound sculptures

The Straits Times, Singapore – July 24, 2018 – O Her! Chan Davies Art Prize 2018,

Zaobao.sg – August 5, 2018 – Chan Davies Art Prize 2018.

S.E.A. Focus (2019) Panel Discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnR4DGqNyZI&list=PLle7gOTOd__GOEaqDnLG373YAQXTi97MJ&index=4

Interview on IGTV with Belas-Artes Ulisboa (National Academy of Fine Arts – Lisbon), Portugal, 2020
http://5md.belasartes.ulisboa.pt/2020/06/04/dipali_gupta/
https://www.a-list.sg/the-art-of-adapting-to-change/
https://www.cendana.com.my/library/our-library/lensa-seni/hypnotherapy-and-video-images-in-dipali-guptas-uncertain-relaxation-installation-provoke-thoughts-about-man-machine-and-the-in-between

CNA 938 Singapore Stories
https://www.tamilmurasu.com.sg/tabla/singapore/drawing-attention-feminine-issues?fbclid=IwAR1pSR7MA4tj1kkPZssFh_diLFWZG3AnxI7wiN_TninJgbPyITHsmVWWMII

Mumbai, India, 1977. Lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Instagram: @dipalianurag
www.dipaligupta.net

Research/Reading References

Haraway, Donna. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. | New York: Routledge, 1991. | Jones, Amelia. Body Art Performing the Subject. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998. | Mitchell, W J T. “What Do Pictures Really Want?” Visual Culture, Modernity, and Art History (1996): 71-82. Preciado, Paul B. | Testo Junkie, Sex, Drugs and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era,. | New York: the Feminist Press, 2013. Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari. | A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. | Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987. Comella, Lynn. Vibrator Nation. | Durham and London: Duke University Press, n.d. Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari. | A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987. | Yen, Yuehping. Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005. | Pocius, Genevieve. “Temporality, Spatiality and Looking in Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) and Agnès Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962).” 2015. http://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds. | MUSAC. Lexcture Performance, New Artistic Formats. 2017. <http://conferenciaperformativa.org/en/project/>. | Milder, Patricia. Teaching As Art The Contemporary Lecture Performance. 2010. <http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/PAJJ_a_00019>.