Born in 1931, Dave is regarded as one of the renowned Indian painters. He has also served as the former member of Lalit Kala Akademi and Sahitya Kala Parishad. He obtained his Bachelor and Master degree in Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara in 1950s. In the beginning of his career he started working as a commercial artist doing banners and sign boards but gradually made his mark as a painter through several significant assignments that includes the VIP Lounges of JFK Airport (New York) and at the Air India booking offices in New York, Los Angeles, Rome, Sydney, and Perth. Dave’s works are based on modernism, which can be seen through his formal abstraction technique. Dave has held several one-man exhibitions in India and abroad since his first show in the 1950s. Apart from this, he has also participated in group exhibitions and prestigious shows like the South East Asia Art Exhibition in the Philippines, 1957, the International Graphic Exhibition in Switzerland, 1960, the Commonwealth Exhibition in London, 1962 and other international events in Japan, France, East Europe and the Middle East. The Government of India felicitated Dave with the prestigious Padma Shri which is the fourth highest Indian civilian honour and also with the National Arts Awards.