DIGITAL DIGEST AsiA
Presenting...
Subodh Gupta introduces six of his favourite Indian artists
for the past 20 years Subodh Gupta has exploited the tensions of working as an Indian artist
in the Western-dominated sphere of contemporary art. His sculptures – piles of dung, traditional Shilpa Gupta
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fuel in India, rendered in bronze, or a curry house’s pots and pans, in shiny stainless steel – at once
Untitled, 2006, C-print, and Untitled, 2004–5, interactive video projection.
Both images courtesy Bose Pacia, New York
celebrate his native country and acknowledge the clichés of its representation. Often executed
on a large scale, Gupta’s work is tinged with humour, and wears a sly smile about the immensity
of his joke. “I like Godard,” he said to ArtReview recently on the telephone. “He can be critical,
he can be experimental, he can be political, he can be funny.” Much the same can be said about
Anup Mathew Thomas
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Gupta’s own work.
Both images from the series Light Life, 2005, digital slide show. Courtesy Gasworks, London
Here Gupta introduces six emerging Indian artists he finds particularly interesting right now.
Shilpa Gupta is a key video artist, who also works in digital. She uses self-portraiture in a really
Ranjani Shettar
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sharp and creative way, particularly in a series of new photowork… She is young but really out
I Am No One To Tell You What Not To Do, 2006 (installation view), silicon, carved wood, beads, fishline,
there already. There’s honesty to her work that makes it strong.
1200 x 760 x 370 cm, and Just a Bit More, 2005–6, hand-moulded beeswax, cotton thread dyed in tea,
1080 x 670 x 370 cm. Both images courtesy Talwar Gallery, New York and New Delhi
I’d never seen Anup Mathew Thomas’s work in India, but saw his show recently at Gasworks
in London. The government in Mumbai has recently shut down all the dance halls because
they were seen as morally corrupt – and once they closed them, the women who danced there
Sumedh Rajendran
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no longer had any way to make a living. It turned one profession over to another – many just
Fuel Assassination, 2005, iron and leather, 89 x 102 x 20 cm,
and Little Racism, 2005, iron and leather, 76 x 137 x 35 cm.
turned to prostitution for a living. It really shows the hypocrisy of the government’s moral Both images courtesy Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
police. Anup took a video of the dance bars when they were empty, with just the lights
changing slowly.
Mithu Sen
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Ranjani Shettar is a sculptor from Bangalore… also someone who does not show much in
Untitled, 2006, mixed media on paper, and It’s Good To Be Queen, 2006 (installation view).
Both images courtesy Bose Pacia, New York
India but should. One just gets to see snippets of her work in magazines but not in person. She
has her own language that’s refined and conceptual, and she works closely with the materiality
of her pieces.
Bharti Kher
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I like the way Sumedh Rajendran employs material. He often uses the white tiles that you find
Arione’s Sister, 2006, fibreglass, steel, skin and paper bags, 183 x 125 x 75 cm,
in any middle-class family home and in public urinals… The bathroom is a quiet place, a place
and The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own, 2006, bindis on fibreglass, life-size.
Both images courtesy Nature Morte, New Delhi
where one is alone. He makes a connection between public and private spaces, and between
the sacred and the secular, and he will go far with that.
Mithu Sen is a fantastic painter, drawer and sculptor. She works with organic and visually
sexual material in a very different way – I don’t quite know how else to say it. Lots of humour
and wit in her work, and skill – she’s an excellent watercolourist and can surprise you at any
time.
Bharti Kher is my wife!!! It’s a bit politically incorrect to include her here, so I suggest you have
a look for yourself. She is a powerful artist who has a different eye in how she sees things here
because she has only been here 15 years. She works with the most clichéd imagery (bindis,
facing page: Subodh Gupta, Curry 2, 2005,
Simon de Pury at Phillips’s October Contemporary
stainless steel, 138 x 40 cm. Photo: Ilmari Kalkkinen.
elephants, animals) in a fresh way.
Art sale, London–. Photo: Richard Lewis
Courtesy Art & Public Gallery, Geneva
ARTReview 154
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