Shiv Varma was born 2 September 1976 in Baster (Chattisgarh). He completed his Graduation and Post Graduation from M.S.University, Vadodara 2002 and 2005 in Sculpture. He received the promising artist award from Art India in 2006 and has done major shows across India. Shiv was trained in the traditional techniques of beaten metal as part of a communitarian former life. Through his work, he creates a picture of conflicting worlds, of different value systems and power dynamics that permeate our present society. It is important to recognize that Shiv refuses all kinds of romantic lament and chooses to work within the mainstream conscience and language. In doing so, he upturns the relationship between industry and labor in his depictions. Figures, in his works are not treated as individual units but aggregate to form a symphony of sorts. They are also used to underscore a contrast, a contrast between monolithic structures of power, whether in form of tools or architecture, and bodies of labor. The sharp contrast he comes up with displays multiple layers of negotiation and compromise that these bodies go through, collectively, in order to live in a contemporary world. Viewing his works, therefore, is not about perception alone; it is an act of human recognition.

Shiv lives and works in Baroda.