Drawing on the past and the present, Sunil Padwal’s work reflects on the unsettling identity of contemporary urban life. The senses are mobilized as much as memory, and the artist intervenes by combining antique frames with abstract forms and architectural imagery. There is a preoccupation with showcasing, and his work draws on a life-long intrigue with smaller details of interior spaces. By kindling a sensorium of flea-markets in the gallery context, Padwal blurs the lines between what is actual, what is made and what is found.

Sunil Padwal’s recent exhibitions include Dtale Archist, Bangalore (2024); Bihar Museum Biennale (2023); A point & line to plane, Reachout Gallery, Mumbai (2023); Come Away, GALLERYSKE, Delhi (2021); The Black Flamingo and other stories, Art Intouch, Online Exhibition (2021); Every Soiled Page, Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai (2020); He presented “Lining an archive” at GALLERYSKE, New Delhi, 2019; “Confluxes” at The Arts House, The Old Parliament in Singapore, 2014; “Soliloquies, notes from the drawing book” at Space 1857, Chicago 2012; Soliloquies, notes from the drawing book Gallery BMB, Mumbai ; Numb, at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi 2007; “Untitled” at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, 2006.

Notable group exhibitions include the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016-17; "As Far As The Forest Is," Three Artists Show - Kewenig, Palma, Spain, 2019; “Fifty Years of Freedom of Expression” by the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai, Public Enemy Number 1 at Exhibit 320, curated by Shaheen Merali, New Delhi 2010 "Every Soiled Page," Ishara Art Foundation, UAE, 2020, Bihar Museum Biennale 2023; to name a few.

His work featured in "In the pupil of an eye, Kochi Muziris Biennale, curated by Sudarshan Shetty (2016-17).

Padwal received his BFA from the J.J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai.

The artist lives and works in Mumbai.