About

Dr. Chhaya Dubey is an abstract artist from Bhopal, India, whose layered, deeply textured canvases draw on nature, light and music. Painting has been at the centre of her education from the start – from her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees through to a PhD awarded in 2011.

In 2008 she completed the short-term Bharatiya Kalanidhi course at the National Art Museum, Delhi, having earlier trained in fashion and textile design. Equally curious about traditional craft, she has completed around 15 certified courses in the folk art traditions of different Indian states.

She works as a freelance artist at the Bharat Bhavan Graphic Studio in Bhopal. Her solo exhibitions include Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; Abstract Expression at Triveni Gallery, New Delhi (2016); and Roopabh Gallery, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal (2013). She has taken part in around 50 national and international group exhibitions and close to 30 workshops and art camps. Her paintings are held in private and government collections in India and abroad.

Artist statement

“Art and nature are deeply related – symbiotic, in fact. Being an introvert, I have always found it difficult to express my feelings in words. Perhaps that is why I made colour my world – a world where I was free, where I was me.”

“I work in mixed media, mostly acrylic on canvas. Yellow is central to all my work, built up in many layers. Just as notes come together to make music, each stroke comes together to make a painting more meaningful.”

“Just as fragrance has no shape, my art has no defined shape or boundaries.”