Trupti Patel (b. 1957, Nairobi) is a sculptor based in Vadodara, India. She earned an MA in Fine Arts at the University of Baroda and was awarded a British Council Scholarship. She went on to complete an MA in Ceramic Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. In 1995, Patel’s work was shown at the International Ceramics Festival in Aberystwyth. Patel continued to live and work in the UK until 1997, at which point she relocated to Vadodara. She works predominantly in clay, often opting for Indian terracotta. Her ceramic pieces frequently portray the female form and explore the wider role of women in society today.
Solo exhibitions include Places.Earths.Identity, Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore (2020); Individual/Society/Clay Initiatives, Gallerie Alternatives, New Delhi (2011); White Heat, Gallerie Alternatives, New Delhi (2008); Fluent Consciousness, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai (2005); Queen’s Gallery, The British Council, New Delhi (2004); Nazar Gallery, Vadodara (2001); Chelmsford and Essex Museum, Chelmsford (1996); The Hannah Peschar Gallery, Ockley (1995); Student Showcase, Museum of Mankind, London (1986).
Group exhibitions include (upcoming) Tainted Love, Kristin Hjellergjerde Gallery (2026); India Art Summit, New Delhi (2011); On the Table, Tranceforme, Mumbai (2009); Three by One, Crafts Study Centre, Farnham (2010); Earth Synergy, Gallerie Navya, New Delhi (2008); Indian Ceramics Today, Herwitz Gallery, Ahmedabad (2008); Making of Divinity, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai (2006); Bronze, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (2006); 11th Triennale, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (2005); Subtlety-Minimally, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (2004); Transporatale S2 Crossing-Knotting, Berlin Railway Station, Berlin (2003); Voices Against Violence, Faculty of Fine Arts, Vadodara (2002); Eastern Edge, Laing Art Gallery, New Castle-upon-Tyne (1997); SOFA Miami Exposition, 2nd International Annual exposition, Miami (1996); The Raw and the Cooked, The Shigaraki Ceramic Sculpture Park, Japan, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, and The Barbican Art Gallery, London (1994-5); A Survey of New Work in Clay in Britain, The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1993); London Art Fair, Business Design Center, London (1992); Colours of Earth, The British Council show in India (1991); Clay Bodies, Contemporary Applied Arts, London (1992); First World Triennale of Small Ceramics, Yugoslavia (1984).
Highlights and Collections Patel’s works are in prominent institutional and museum collections internationally, including The British Council, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Royal College of Art, London; The Shigaraki Ceramic Sculpture Park, Japan; The University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK; Cartwright Hall, Bradford, UK; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK; Chelmsford and Essex Museum, Chelmsford, UK; The New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, UK; Churchill College, Cambridge, UK; amongst others. In 1981 she received the Lalit Kala Academy Award and in 1995, the Royal Overseas Art League Trophy. Also in 1995, the Grays Thurrock Council in Essex commissioned a large-scale faceted column. More recently, Patel was the artist-in-residence at the Clayarch Gimhae Museum in South Korea.