Dhruvi Acharya (born in 1971) is an Indian artist known for her psychologically complex and visually layered paintings. She has recently started creating

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

. She is based in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Early life and education

Dhruvi Acharya was born in 1971 in India and she was raised in Mumbai. She attended Walsingham House School, a private girls school in Mumbai. Acharya received her undergraduate degree in 1993 in Applied Arts at the

Sophia Polytechnic Sophia College (Autonomous) is an undergraduate Women's colleges, women's college established in 1941 by Society of the Sacred Heart, Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The governing body of The ...

in Mumbai. She went on to receive a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

(MFA) degree in 1998 from the Hoffberger School of Painting at

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, it is regarded as one of ...

(MICA) in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. At MICA, she studied with painter

Grace Hartigan Grace Hartigan (March 28, 1922 – November 15, 2008) was an American abstract expressionist painter and a significant member of the vibrant New York School of the 1950s and 1960s. Her circle of friends, who frequently inspired one another in t ...

. She was married to filmmaker

Manish Acharya Manish G. Acharya (14 June 1967 – 4 December 2010) was an Indian film director and actor. Acharya was best known for '' Loins of Punjab Presents'', the film he co-wrote with Anuwab Pal, directed, acted in, and co-produced. Released theatrical ...

, with whom she had two sons. Manish Acharya died in 2010 in an accident.

Work

Acharya was featured in

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

news magazine in January 2005 as one of the 50 Indians under 35 years of age that are on the "fast track to success." She has exhibited with the

Queens Museum of Art The Queens Museum (formerly the Queens Museum of Art) is an art museum and educational center at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. Established in 1972, the museum includes the '' Panorama of the City of Ne ...

in New York, the

San Jose Museum of Art The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1969, the museum holds a permanent collection with an emphasis on West Coast artists of the 20th and 21st cent ...

, the

National Gallery of Modern Art The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is the premier art gallery under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The main museum at Jaipur House in New Delhi was established on 29 March 1954 by the Government of India, with subsequent b ...

in Mumbai, the

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, (CSMVS) formerly named the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, is a museum in Mumbai (Bombay) which documents the history of India from prehistoric to modern times. It was founded during Bri ...

museum in Mumbai,

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The university has an alumni net ...

in St. Louis, Brisbane and the former Spazio Oberdan in Milan. In 2017 Acharya participated in the panel ''Post-Boom: Artists and Their Practices'' at the

Asia Society The Asia Society is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) and around the world (Hong Ko ...

India Centre in Mumbai. Acharya's special projects include "painting as performance", with

Chitra Ganesh Chitra Ganesh (born 1975 in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) is a visual artist based in Brooklyn. Her work across media includes charcoal drawings, digital collages, films, web projects, photographs, and wall murals. Ganesh draws from mythology, literat ...

at the India Art Fair in 2015 and "JSW", a 32-foot mural for the Jindal Steel Works Center, Mumbai. Installation titled "what once was, still is, but isn't..." where Acharya submerged the gallery room with cotton fabrics at Morte gallery, Delhi. Ever since the lockdown in India during Covid-19 pandemic, Acharya painted compulsively and used her watercolours to generate funds and resources for those impacted through Chemould Prescott Road's online viewing room and her own social media handles

Awards

Acharya has been the recipient of the 2014 YFLO Young Women Achiever's Awards.

References

External links

Images of Acharya's art
on MutualArt {{DEFAULTSORT:Acharya, Dhruvi 1971 births Indian women painters Living people Artists from Mumbai 21st-century Indian women artists