Career graph of artist Anita Dube

Born in Lucknow in 1958, and trained as an art critic at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda, Anita Dube honed her artistic practice largely through her involvement with the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association.

She is not exactly religious, but inquisitive about religions, and sees them as wisdom stories that offer us knowledge and consciousness. According to Anita Dube, every time you create something, you as an artist refresh and renew yourself, putting aside other things, exploring newer channels of self expression. She adds: “All of us need it - to traverse our own selves, our minds and bodies. Art makes this possible in a deep way, healing and cleaning you. You can also sensitize people, and help to become more human, bring closer to their emotions.”

The artist though, doesn’t approach her practice as an activist, as it would mean she has set a definitive agenda. In reality, she is interested in different aspects of life and existence - politics, gender and sexuality – that matter to her. She strives to explore mysterious unnamed elements that preoccupy us, looking for clear answers. Initially expressing herself as a writer, she gradually started dabbling with colors and materials, something that she found engaging so she took up art as her preferred mode of expression. This was at 30. For the next decade or so, she struggled to prove herself as an artist, but the struggle was worth it…

Solo exhibitions of her work have been organized at Lakeeren Gallery, Mumbai in 2013, Galleria Marabina, Bologna in 2012, Gallery Dominique Fiat, Paris in 2011, Bose Pacia, New York in 2008, Almine Reich, Paris in 2007, Gallery SKE, Bangalore in 2006, and Nature Morte, New Delhi in 2005. Her works are included in prestigious institutional collections such as the Devi Art Foundation and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi and Tate Modern in London. Among her selected group exhibitions are 'Tolstoy Farm', courtesy Seven Art Gallery at LKA, Delhi; 'Conundrum', Bose Pacia, NY; 'Back to School', Palette Art Gallery, Delhi (2011); 'Indian (Sub)Way', Grosvenor Vadehra, London (2010).

Her noteworthy participations include 'Paris-Delhi-Bombay', Centre Pompidou, Paris; 'Of Gods & Goddesses', Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; 'Collectors Stage', Singapore Art Museum (2011); 'Where Three Dreams Cross', Whitechapel Gallery, London; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; 'Urban Manners 2', SESC Pompeia, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2010); 'Failed Plot', part of KIAF 09 at COEX, Seoul; 'How Nations are Made', Green Cardamom, London; 'Beyond Globalization', Beyond Art Space, Beijing; 'Mythologies', Haunch of Venison, London (2009).