Shanti Dave was born on the 25th of September 1931 in the northern Gujarat village of Badpura He completed his masters in Fine Arts from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in the year 1956 He started his career as a commercial creating banners and sign boards and eventually created a niche for himself as a painter His work is holistic in nature since he fuses the old with the new, intermingling projections and mediums in order to create narratives with a strong abstract element His initial experience as a bill board painter enabled him to extract influences from external triggers He believes that the signs of Om and Sri have a universal relevance and thus he incorporates calligraphic intonations of such tantric motifs in his works Dave's works are abstract in nature which he creates with a blend of wax and oil paint techniquesAmongst his several notable assignments are his murals at one of the VIP Lounges of JFK Airport, New York airport and at the Air India offices in Frankfurt and Sydney He has been honoured with several awards to name a few, the title of Padma Shri in 1985 and Lalit Kala Akademi Ratna in 2004 His work has been exhibited widely in shows held in different parts of the country and overseas including the International Graphics Exhibition, Switzerland in 1960; Paris Biennale, Paris in 1961; Commonwealth Exhibition, London in 1962; Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil in 1980; Indian Contemporary Art, Tokyo in 1988 and National Exposition of Contemporary Art, NGMA, 1991 to name a few Shanti Dave lives and works in New Delhi