Born in Nagpur in 1980, Shende completed his BFA in Sculpture from Mumbai's Sir J.J. School of Arts in 2004. In the few years since his graduation, Shende has undergone phenomenal artistic growth that led to three successful solo shows at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai and at Zurich's Galerie Kashya Hilderbrand. One reason for Shende's immediate appeal is his bold, playful style that is expressed in life-size and blown-up sculptures that are eye-catching and iconic. Shende re-visits popular symbols of urban India and re-presents them in new and surprising ways.

The iron manifests Shende’s deep sympathy to the impoverished and underclasses. Having observed a general indifference and lack of gratitude towards the small contributions by people in our lives, Shende employs the motif of a quotidian iron to pay homage to laundry men, while also giving a place of significance to the numerous agents whose humble contributions make a big difference in our daily existence. It is this ability to re-conceptualise even the most of charged symbols and objects that makes him such a potent artistic commentator on contemporary India.