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BIO

Viraag Desai (b.1986) graduated in 2009 with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has widely shown in USA & India.
 He has participated in artist residencies throughout India but more notably in Neilson Gallery, Grazalema, and Cadiz, Spain and most recently the Uronto residency, in Bangladesh. Group exhibits include ‘Wanderlust’ . J&K Gallery. Arcadia , California (2010; ‘Trip Tash ‘ at AakarPrakar Galley; ‘Screenshots of Utopia’ and 'Mapping Detours'  at Chitrakoot Art Gallery (2013); 'The Tube Without Paint, A Fungal Lattice & The Bird That Never Flew Away, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai. He took part in the Cima Awards show in Kolkata followed by ‘Uday’ at AakarPrakar Art Advisory, New Delhi in 2016, followed by the ‘Affordable Art Fair’ in Hampstead. He has completed several large scale commissions for commercial spaces, both in India and abroad, expanding his practice from painting to sculpture to technology-based installations, such as ‘Emissions’ at Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa. This hasallowed him to further meld his experience in digital and set design with his artistic practice. In the last year he participated in the Piramal residency, followed by a commission to paint a 15 x 75 foot mural for Piramal Aranya, Mumbai as well as others around Mumbai. He veers towards the technical in his new-media art, when designing for films concerts and plays (Rakshas,2019), drawing his inspiration from physics, math and emerging online cultures.In 2020 he had a solo show at Art exposure. From 2020-23 he was focusing almost exclusively on work that revolved around Digital sculpting via VR and 3d printing. For which he participated in ‘ Memory leaves’ as well as ‘Rhizome’ at Chattrapati Shivaji Museum in Mumbai. In 2023 he was the first person of Indian origin to win the Julius Baer Next Generation Art prize. In 2025 he started a yearlong collaboration with MG Select Kolkata to exhibit and his works in their space.He is currently living and working out of Kolkata.

Exhibitions / Residencies / Awards

2006 - Recipient of two Merit scholarships from The School of the ArtInstitute of Chicago.

2006 - Participated in ARTBASH, Group show at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

2008 - Contemporary Art of Bengal. Group show at Tejas Gallery. Kolkata, India

2009 - Fantastic Visions, Group show at Academy of Fine Arts. Kolkata, India

2009 - Fall Undergraduate Exhibition, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Illinois.

2010 – Subalterity, Group show at The Mezz, Alexandria Hotel. Los Angeles,California

2010 – Wanderlust , Group show at J&K Gallery. Arcadia , California.

2011- Tejas Gallery Workshop at Taj West End, Bangalore. India

2012 - Icons - solo show of paintings at Taj Bengal, Kolkata

2012 - Excerpts - solo show at The Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata

2013 – Set Design for ‘TasherDesh’

2013 – Trip Tash – Group show at AakarPrakarGallery , Kolkata

2013 – Residency with Neilson Gallery, Grazalema , Spain

2013 - Residency with Linea de Costa, Cadiz , Spain

2013 – Screenshots of Utopia – group show at Chitrakoot Art Gallery,Kolkata.

2013 - Project in China. 3-piece mural for VespertineRestaurant , Shanghai.

2014 - Mapping detours – Group show at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

2014 - The Middle of the Garden - Group show at Tejas Gallery Kolkata

2015 –CIMA awards Show at CIMA gallery, Kolkata.

2015 - ‘Tubes without paint , a fungal lattice and The bird that never flewaway’
 

at JehangirGallery, Mumbai

2016 - ‘Momentum’ , ‘Fictive’ and ‘Chai Chronicles’ at Range, Kolkata
 

2016 – Uday at AkarPrakar Art Advisory, New Delhi

2016 – Prop Design for ‘Ludo’
 

2017 – Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead, London

2017 – ‘The Painted Face’ – Art Exposure, Kolkata

2017 – Production design for ‘ShunajurirBhoot’

2018 – Piramal Residency, Thane, Mumbai

2018 - Four Point Perspective - Piramal Museum Mumbai

2018 - 'Emissions ', 3 room technology based installation at Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa

2019 – Stage/ Prop Design for ‘Rakshas’,Theatrical Production ,Delhi and Bangalore

2019 – My own muse, Art Exposure, Kolkata.

2019 – ‘Collage making- an offbeat approach’ Lecture and Workshop at Piramal Museum,Mumbai

2019 – Bycullla Wall project. 75x16 ft mural at Piramal Aranya, in collaboration with Piramal Museum.

2019 – Byculla Wall Project –Conducted illustration workshop for photographers

2019 – ‘Chitrashaala’ Residency at Lake Nargarh Palace

2019 – Uronto Residency – Bangladesh

2019 – Uronto at Dhaka Art Summit.

2019 – Mural at Burhani college, Mumbai

2020 – ‘Untitled 4’ at Priyasri Art Gallery

2020 – ‘A Mechanical Eye’ Solo show at Art Exposure Kolkata

2022 - 'Memory Leaves' - Art Exposure Kolkata

2023 – India Art Fair 

2023- Installation at ‘India Story’

2023- ‘Rhizome’ at CSMVS museum Mumbai.

2023 – Winner of the Julius Baer Next Generation Art prize

2025 – Collaboration and year-long exhibition with MG Select Kolkata

2025 – Lecturer at ‘Codefarm’ – coding art residency in Kolkata

2026 – Curator and participant in ‘Printcrafters Collective: Edition 1’ , Tejas Art Gallery