Amit Ambalal was born in Ahmedabad and was a businessman before he became a full time artist in 1979. He studied art under the guidance of the veteran artist and teacher Chhaganlal Jadav. He held his first solo show at Hutheesing Visual Arts Centre, Ahmedabad in 1980. His other solo shows include those at, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai and Gallery Maya, London 2006; Bodhi Art, New Delhi and Singapore in 2005; Galerie F.I.A. Amsterdam, 2001; Gallery Chemould, Mumbai 1997; Gallery Espace, Delhi, 1992. His works have been part of several group shows in India as well as abroad.
He received the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, Italy, 1999 and the Gujarat State Lalit Kala Akademi Award in 1968.
Ambalal’s paintings give evidence of an important tendency in contemporary Indian art - that of a contemporary approach to tradition via the ‘degenerate’ forms of the popular religious traditions. His painting in this sense makes an interesting interface with his passion for the art history of devotional pictures from Nathdwara. While on the one hand there is the historian’s aesthetic interest, there is equally the critical comment of the irreverent humor in his work.
He lives and works in Ahmedabad.
