Bhupen Khakhar

Artist Bio

Bhupen Khakhar was born in Bombay in 1934 into a middle class Gujarati family. His father died when Khakhar was four years old, and his mother, Mahalaxmi, brought up the children. In keeping with the expectations of the successful mercantile classes, Khakhar initially trained as an accountant, graduating with degrees in commerce and administration. He began painting in the early 1960s. He moved to the University town of Baroda, north of Bombay, where he completed a degree in Art Criticism at the Fine Art Faculty at the M.S. University. Khakhar thus comes to painting relatively late. His early works draw on his interest in the imagery of Indian popular culture – cinema posters, calendar art and street kitsch. This interest is now less apparent in the work of Khakar, who has become an established artist and one of India’s foremost contemporary painters. (bio)

Bhupen Khakhar at The Palette Art Gallery

Bhupen Khakhar at Delhi Art Gallery