# Manav Gupta

Manav Gupta (born 29 December 1967) is a leading contemporary artist who is known for his mastery of light and color and for creating the tallest, first of its kind, five floor high, 5000 sq ft monumental mural "Tree of Life" where he introduced innovations of processes in conceptual,site specific, performance and collaborative art.
Among contemporary artists today, he is perhaps one of the the best abstract painters from India who explores interesting interplay of light in Nature. He synthesizes his poetry, paintings, music and voice to create short films on environment consciousness. He has pioneered performance art in India as an idiom of the Indian "jugalbandi" — the collaborative dialogue on stage.

## Quotes
### 1990s

* Nature's process of creation, as it exists in its timelessness,in its oneness and peace,has all the answers to man's needs of growth and progress and development. If the human endeavor first absorbs and then adopts these answers in its developmental process, the growth from cities to mega cities and path to progress would not create silent self digging graves of human extinction.
** Rainforests and the Timeless Metaphors of Dreams by Manav Gupta (August 1997)
** "on my eyot, umbilical cords of earth" by Manav Gupta (May 1999)
** One minute films on environment consciousness (Commissioned by the Govt. of India) (2005)
* As I scrape the bottom of the soul for some ingredients the only way I can explain to myself, about what it all is, is to believe that in some past life (if there is one), I belonged to the rainforests. The mantra there, for survival, is to submit to the natural forces, bow before it, respect its ways, learn and grow. You cannot defy it or go against it. In the rainforests there are labyrinthine darknesses weaving around you but there is always light in streaks, in a glow, in a stream, sunlight…all of which brings hope. You don't bathe in it all the time but it seeks you out. Man is but a speck. The human race, still a speck, in this mighty universe rich with millions of secrets.
** Retrieved, Arist's statement (1997)
** Rainforests and the Timeless Metaphors of Dreams by Manav Gupta (August 1997, May 1999)
** Referenced in critique “exploring earth’s elements” by Uma Nair, Asian Age, 2006 Sourced fromVictoria Ross Blog, 2012

### 2000s

* Nature has a million answers. Even as I observe tree trunks, roots, branches, idling in some corner, to be burnt down as wood, it affords an excellent laboratory to the mind. It is exciting, sensuous and intoxicating. If one submits oneself to the form and the raw energy of the tree even when it can no longer bear fruit and leaves, one can see great poetry and lyricism in its intertwining branches and roots. The functional sculptures and paintings are a result of this experiment. The process takes over thereafter, but it is just an ode to nature's beauty.
** As quoted in "Indian Design and Interiors" IDI Magazine (October 2006)
* Let us stop a while, while doing what we are doing, and begin to change what we can change…
** "Beyond Politics, Beyond Copenhagen, For Our Children" : Treatise, Travelling trilogy, Lectures and Films on Sustainable development by Manav Gupta (2009 -2010), as quoted in Hindustan Times (25 December 2009)
* I want to drive home the message that we have to go beyond Copenhagen, beyond drawing room politics and sensitise ourselves, and try and make a change on an individual level.
** "Beyond Politics, Beyond Copenhagen, For Our Children" : Treatise, Travelling trilogy, Lectures and Films on Sustainable development by Manav Gupta (2009 -2010), as quoted in Hindustan Times (25 December 2009)
* The change needs to be from within us otherwise the generations to come will suffer.
** As quoted in "Beyond Politics, Beyond Copenhagen, For Our Children" : Treatise, Travelling trilogy, Lectures and Films on Sustainable development by Manav Gupta (2009 -2010), as quoted in Hindustan Times (29 December 2009)

### 2010s

* "Light, for me is Hope. Colour, the Universe in which it exists."
** Extract critique by Uma Nair, Asian Age (Sourced from Victoria Ross Blog), 2012
* Life – the break of dawn, the sound of a stream. Twilight. Dusk. Silent or loud, eloquent scream of joy or despair or just an ecstatic dream…
** Referenced from TEDx Talk (19 October, 2012)
** "on my eyot", Manav Gupta (Anthology of poems, 2012)

## External links

* TEDx talk