Dhruvi Acharya Mumbai, India, b.1971
Dhruvi Acharya’s work focuses on the psychological and emotional aspects of an urban woman’s life in a world teeming with discord, violence and pollution. Employing a subtle, dark and wry humour, the work draws viewers into a world where thoughts are as visible as “reality”, and where the protagonists live and metamorphose by the logic of that world.
Acharya received her Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, USA in 1998, and completed her Post Baccalaureate in 1996 from the same college. She began exhibiting her works in 1998 in the USA, where she spent 10 years. Acharya has held solo exhibitions with Nature Morte, New Delhi; Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai; Gomez Gallery, Baltimore; and Kravets/Wehby, New York. Her selected participations include exhibitions at the San Jose Museum of Art; Griffith University, Brisbane; BosePacia Modern, New York; National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai; Chatrapati Shivaji Museum, Mumbai; and Queens Museum of Art, New York.
Acharya received the FICCI YFLO Achievers award in 2014, and was nominated for The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, USA in 2006.
Selected Artworks
Solo Exhibitions
2025
The Journey is Home, Hampi Art Labs, Vijayanagar, India
2020
permeated absence, Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
Painting in the Time of Corona – online exhibition, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
Evaporating Voices – Nature Morte, New Delhi
2016
after the fall – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
2015
Painting As Performance – Chitra Ganesh & Dhruvi Acharya, India Art Fair, New Delhi, India
2010
Gasp! – Kravets/Wehby Gallery, New York, USA
2008
One Life on Earth – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai & Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
2006
two plus two equals – Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India
2004
Figment – Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India
2002
Woman, Mother, Goddess – Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
2001
Gomez Art Gallery, Baltimore, USA Three Contemporary Painters – Nilima Sheikh, Manisha Parekh, Dhruvi Acharya, BosePacia Modern, New York, USA
2000
Three person show, Bachelier Cardonsky Gallery, Kent, USA
1999
East Meets West – Bari Kumar & Dhruvi Acharya, curated by M. A Greenstein, School 33, Baltimore, USA
1998
Three person show, Gomez Gallery, Baltimore, USA MFA Thesis Exhibition, solo show, MICA Gallery, Baltimore, USA
1996
Color, Culture & Consciousness – Meyerhoff Gallery, Baltimore, USA
Group Exhibitions
2024
Common Ground, Indian Ceramics Triennial, Arthshila, New Delhi
Art for Baby, Christies, Mumbai
In the making: Drawing, Refining, Revising, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
2023
Sub-Plots, Laughing in the Vernacular, curator Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala, National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru
Of Mimicry, Mimesis & Masquerade, curator Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala, Bajaj Art Gallery Mumbai
2022
Modus Operandi 3 – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
2020
The Future is not Fixed – Nature Morte, curated by Arjun Sawhney
In Touch – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
A Tapestry of Time, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2019
Outside / In – An Exhibition of Portraits, Vedehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
Voiceover – Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, New Delhi, curated by Meena Vari
2018
Thought Bubble – Aicon Gallery, New York, USA
Modus Operandi – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
Sensorium – Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts Elephant Parade, India
2017
Sub Plots – laughing in the Vernacular, curated by Meena Vari, National Museum of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
2015
A Summer Mix – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
2014
Aesthetic Bind – Floating World, curated by Geeta Kapur, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India Drawing
7 Decades of Indian Drawing, curated by Prayag Shukla, Annapurna Garimella & Sindhura DM – Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India
Infinite – Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
2013
Mythopoetic – Women artists from Australia & India, curated by Marnie Dean, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Card-o-logy – curated by Jasmine Shah Varma, Samsara Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
Re-picturing the Feminine – New & Hybrid Realities in the Art World, curated by Marnie Dean, Gallery OED, Kochi, India
2011
Fragile – 1x1 & Paradox Gallery, Singapore
Roots in the Air, Branches Below – Modern & Contemporary Art from India, San Jose Museum of Art, California, USA
Of Humour – Wit and Satire, Gallery Threshold, New Delhi, India
Fabular Bodies – New Narratives in the Art of the Miniature, curated by Gayatri Sinha, Chatrapati Shivaji Museum, Mumbai, India
2010
Bring me a Lion – An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art, curated by Dana Turkovic & Jeffrey Hughes – Cecile R. Hunt Gallery, Webster University, St. Louis, USA
2009
Edible Woman – Kravets/Wehby Gallery, New York, USA
Chrysalid – Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong
Ethics of Encounter II – curated by Brian Curtin, Gallery Soulflower, Bangkok
‘Lo Real Maravilloso: Marvelous Reality – curated by Sunil Mehra, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India
The Miniature Format Show – Sans Tache Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
Vicissitudes of the Constructed Image – Tangerine Art Space, Bangalore, India
Intimate Lives – curated by Anupa Mehta, The Loft & Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
Pixel Power – curated by Georgina Maddox, The Loft, Mumbai, India
Summer Show – Kravets/Wehby, New York, USA 1x1 India on Canvas – The Loft, Mumbai, India
Picture Postcard Project – Hacienda Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
2008
Shifting Terrains/Altered Realities – The Shrine Gallery & Gallery Empire, The Arts House, Singapore
2007
India Art Now – Between Continuity & Transformation, curated by Daniela Palazzoli, Spazio Oberdan, Milan, Italy
Bucheon Contemporary, London, UK
2005
Fatal Love – South Asian American Art Now, curated by Jaishri Abichandani & Prerana Reddy, Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA
In Short – curated by Jasmine Shah Varma, Hacienda Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
2004
Ideas & Images VI – Art in Mumbai, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
2002
Words and Images – National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India Selections from New American Paintings, OSP Gallery, Boston, USA
2001
Shaken and Stirred – Bose Pacia Modern, New York, USA Alienation – York Quay Center, Harbour front, Toronto, Canada
Excerpts from My Diary Pages – curated by Sasha Altaf, Fine Art Company, Mumbai, India Art Frenzy – 12th Street Studios, Long island, New York, USA
2000
Art of Modern India – Bose Pacia Modern Gallery, New York, USA Small Works – 80 Washington Square East Galleries, New York, USA
Nayika – Tao Art Gallery, curated by Anupa Mehta, Mumbai, India Diasporadics
Riverside Church Theater, New York, USA Print Exhibition, Manhattan Graphics Center, New York, USA
1998
13 Artists, 2 Galleries, juried by Nancy Miller Batty, Halcyon Gallery & Studio 302, Baltimore
Artscape Annual, juried by Garry Sangster & Olga Viso, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore
The Divine Comedy – Images of Heaven, Hell and Limbo, Cade Center, Arnold
1997
Artscape Annual, juried by Thelma Golden, Meyerhoff Gallery, Baltimore, USA
Selections from the Graduate Studios, curated by Eugenie Tsai, Meyerhoff Gallery, Baltimore
Awards
FICCI YFLO Achiever’s Award, India, 2014
Aditya Vikram Birla Kala Kiran Puraskar Award, India, 2006
Nominated for The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, USA, 2006
Included among Leaders of their Generation, India Today (cover),January, 2005
International Students Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, 1996