rupa dasGupta

Watercolor painting has been her primary artform for over 30 years, but she also regularly works in portraiture, calligraphy, apparel design, printmaking, laser cut sculpture, generative art, and stained glass. Her most well-known project is her Octopus a Day series, for which she has drawn, painted, inked, etched, sculpted, and folded over 800 octopuses, which can be found at http://anoctopusaday.com. Her work has been shown in publications such as Rock & Sling, the Santa Clara Review, and, most proudly, in the revolutionary journal Salvage, as well as being displayed in galleries in New Jersey, New York, D.C., and Virginia. In September 2020, Rupa was delighted to unveil her first mural at Ghost Harbor Creative in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Professionally, Rupa has worked as a multimedia designer at Marvel Entertainment, the Red Bank Film Festival, and Monmouth University, and is currently a Lead Technologist at Booz Allen Hamilton. As an art model, she has posed for many noted artists, including James O’Barr, David Mack, Daniel Maidman, Victoria Selbach, and Sean Pryor, and models regularly for life drawing classes. An avid ocean enthusiast since childhood, she volunteers at Jenkinson’s Aquarium in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. After many experiences with bereavement, notably her boyfriend Christian Selway, who passed away from cancer in 2001, and her father Anupam DasGupta, who died unexpectedly in 2022, she welcomed the opportunity to become a grief group facilitator for Stephy’s Place in Red Bank, New Jersey, a support center for grief and loss. As a lifelong lover of books, she is thrilled to host Hadal Zone, a book club devoted to science fiction, fantasy, and horror at the Asbury Book Cooperative. She is a proud resident of Asbury Park, New Jersey, where she lives with her husband, the poet Michael Paul Thomas, and their son, Sagan.