Born in 1963, in the beautiful state of Assam, Utpal Barua completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees from Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal. He then went on to receive his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. Currently he serves as a Professor and Head of the Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati.

He has participated in more than 25 national level exhibitions in India and more than 40 international level exhibitions/symposiums/conferences in the China, Macedonia, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Belgrade, Indonesia, Shanghai, Korea, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Romania, Italy etc. Also he has been actively participating in Olympic Fine Arts since the year 2008 and more recently in 2012 at London.