Hema Upadhyay facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hema Upadhyay
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Upadhyay with Dream a wish-wish a dream, 2006
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| Born |
Hema Hirani
1972 |
| Died | 11 December 2015 (aged 42–43) |
| Education | BFA in painting and MFA in print making from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 1997 |
Hema Upadhyay (born Hema Hirani; 1972 – 11 December 2015) was a talented Indian artist from Mumbai. She was famous for her amazing photography and large sculptural artworks. She created art from 1998 until her death in 2015.
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About Hema's Life
Hema Hirani was born in Baroda. She met another artist, Chintan Upadhyay, in 1992. They got married in 1998 and moved to Mumbai. They often worked on art shows together. They divorced in 2014. Hema continued to live in their flat in Juhu.
Hema's First Artworks
Hema's first solo art show was called Sweet Sweat Memories. It took place at Gallery Chemould in Mumbai in 2001. This show featured artworks made with different materials on paper. Hema used her own photographs in these pieces. She wanted to share her feelings about moving to Mumbai in 1998. Her paintings often included small pictures of herself, like a collage.
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The Nymph and the Adult, Installation, 2001, Artspace, Sydney, Australia
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Made in China, Collaborative installation, 2003, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India
In 2001, Hema had her first international solo show in Australia. She displayed an artwork called The Nymph and the Adult. For this piece, she made 2000 realistic cockroach sculptures. She placed them all over the gallery. This artwork made people think about the effects of military actions.
Hema also worked with Chintan Upadhyay on a piece called Made in China. This artwork talked about buying lots of things, globalisation, and losing one's unique identity. In 2006, she worked with her mother, Bina Hirani. Their artwork, Mum-my, was shown in Chicago.
Hema's Museum Exhibitions
From 2004 onwards, Hema's installations were shown in many group exhibitions. These were in famous museums around the world. Some of these places include the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in China and the National Portrait Gallery in Australia. Her art was also seen at the Centre Pompidou in France and the Mori Art Museum in Japan.
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8' x 12', 2009, installation, Indian Highway
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Where the bees suck, there suck I, 2009, MACRO Museum, Rome, Italy
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Think left, think right, think low, think tight, 2010, Aichi Triennial, Nagoya, Japan & Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 2011
After Hema passed away in 2016, her artwork was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She was the only Indian artist to be part of the first exhibition when the MACRO museum in Rome reopened.
Art Residencies and Workshops
In 2010, Hema was invited to an art residency at Atelier Calder in France. During her time there, she created an artwork called Only Memory has Preservatives. This piece was inspired by the nature around her. It also showed ideas that were important in her art. Hema tried to recreate a forest in her studio. She used pictures of trees from the area to make a landscape. She did not use actual natural materials.
In 2003, she joined the Vasl residency in Karachi. There, she made an artwork called Loco foco motto. This piece discussed the divide between India and Pakistan. It also connected to her family's history during the partition of India. For this work, she used matchsticks and glue to create beautiful chandeliers. These chandeliers, made of thousands of unlit matchsticks, represented Hindu rituals. They symbolized both creation and destruction.
Hema's later works often featured patterned surfaces. These patterns were inspired by Indian spiritual symbols and traditional fabric designs. One such work was titled Killing Site. Her large-scale installation Dream a wish-wish a dream (2006) was very important. At first, it looked like a landscape of Bombay. But it was actually a statement about how the city's appearance changes because of people who move there.
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Only Memory has Preservatives, 2010, Atelier Calder, Sache, France
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Moderniznation, 2011, Espace Topographie de l'Art, Festival D' Automne a Paris, Paris, France
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The Princesses' Rusted Belt, 250 handmade clay birds, iron wire, acrylic, watercolours, cotton thread and text on printing paper, dimensions variable, 2011, Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy
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The Princesses' Rusted Belt, Mixed media on arches paper, 72 x 48 in, 2011, Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy
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Loco foco motto, 2007, Hanger Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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Killing Site, 2008, Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy
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Dream a wish-wish a dream, 2006
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Hema's Solo Art Shows
- 2012 Extra Ordinary, Faculty of Fine Arts Baroda, and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
- 2012 Mute Migration, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- 2011–12 Princesses Rusted Belt, Studio La Citta, Verona Italy
- 2011 Moderniznation, Espace Topographie de l'Art, Festival D' Automne a Paris, Paris
- 2009 Where the bees suck, there suck I, Reopening of MACRO museum, Rome Italy
- 2008–09 Yours Sincerely, Gallery Nature Morte, New Delhi
- 2008 Universe revolves on, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore
- 2004 Underneath, Gallery Chemould, Bombay
- 2001–02 The Nymph and the Adult, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
- 2001 Sweet Sweat Memories, Gallery Chemould, Bombay
- 2001 The Nymph and the Adult, Art Space, Sydney
Hema's Group Art Shows
- 4th International Print Biennale, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, 1997
- Prithvi Art Gallery, Mumbai, 1998
- Secret Life of Objects, Lakeeran Gallery, Mumbai, 2000
- Exchanging Territories, Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi, 2001
- X International Triennale, Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi, 2001
- Transfiguration, Art Inc, India Habitat Center, New Delhi, 2002
- crossing generations: diVERGE, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, 2003
- Loco-Foco-Motto, a sculpture made with match sticks, International Artists' Residency, Karachi, Pakistan, 2003
- Parthenogenesis, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2003
- The Tree from the Seed, Hennie Onstad Kunssenter, Oslo, Norway, 2003
- Have We Met, Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo, Japan, 2004
- Indian Summer: Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, 2005
- Indian Contemporary Art, Chelsea college of Art, London, 2005
- Present Future, NGMA, Mumbai, 2005
- Parallel Realities-Asian Art Now, The 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Blackburn Museum, Blackburn, UK, 2006
- Long Happy Hours and Thereby Happiness and Other stories, the Museum Gallery, Mumbai, 2006
Artist Residencies Hema Attended
- 2010 Atelier Calder, Sache, France
- 2008 Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore
- 2007 Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, USA
- 2003 Vasl International Artists Residency, Karachi
- 2001 Art Space, Sydney
Hema's Passing
Hema Upadhyay passed away on Friday, 11 December 2015. A museum official from the Museum of Arts, Boston, expressed sadness about her death. Her artwork was planned to be shown at the museum a few months after she died.
