Gupta is mostly known for working with everyday objects that are ubiquitous throughout India, such as the mass-produced steel tiffin boxes used by millions to carry their lunch, as well as thali pans, bicycles and milk pails. From such ordinary items the artist produces sculptures that reflect on the economic transformation of his homeland while acknowledging the reach of contemporary art.

In his recent works Gupta moved away from composite sculptures towards objects that possess an auratic quality. Readymade commodities experience transformations in scale and material, transmogrifying from factory-produced items into extraordinary artefacts. Employing such culturally loaded mediums as bronze, steel and marble, he presents subject matters whose symbolism varies from the universal to the enigmatic, and whose emotional impact ranges from menace to nostalgia. Appropriated icons from the canon of Western art share company with replicas of perishable, interchangeable goods associated with India, and items whose import is specific to the artist. Gupta’s work treats unlike things with equal respect, embodying the clash between impersonal and individual experience in contemporary society. He tests the ways in which meaning and value are constructed, exploring art’s capacity to withstand and channel the effects of expansion, displacement and translation.

His upcoming shows include ones at The Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany (2014) and Arario Gallery, Seoul, Korea and Shanghai, China (2014). His most recent show includes “Everything is Inside” at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India (2014).