Subodh Gupta

Artville artist of the day: Subodh Gupta

(Untitled)
Year: 2006
Medium: Oil on canvas
Diameter: 71.5 in (181.6 cm)
Category: Painting
Style: Still Life

As a painter and sculptor, Subodh Gupta uses the ubiquitous kitchen vessel as “the theme of India’s oscillation between urban and rural norms” (Dan Cameron, “Worldly Possessions”, Subodh Gupta, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, 2008, pg.264). Negotiating the differences between a rapidly globalizing India with its social and cultural peculiarities, Gupta’s vessels emerge as reminders of India’s cultural and ritualistic practices.

Throughout his artistic career, Gupta’s works have been layered with meaning. Bharti Kher’s observation of a previous body of work rings true for the current lot as well: “If we were to see materials as symbolic in Subodh’s work, carrying with them the power of multiple narratives—his and our own—the transient, lucid, latent experiences manifested into a moment of time; it is by restructuring these materials that he is able to change the course of memory or rearrange existing meaning.” (“When Soak Becomes Spill”, Subodh Gupta, Gallery Chemould Exhibition Catalogue, Mumbai, 1999)

The present lot shows what appear to be copper pots placed one above the other, outside a trader’s store or in a domestic setting. Rendered with photorealistic accuracy, Gupta beautifies and glorifies these simple kitchen vessels. The viewer is forced to question the notion of value and the unique ways in which it is translated from traditional to contemporary contexts. Peter Nagy observes that Subodh’s art “has taken the experience of India away from the dirty, crowded and noisy to the clean, sparse and sedate....While sharp and resolute, his works still feel organic and haphazard; while cold and clinical they still resemble and overbearing crush of humanity....Artifice as the basic tenet of all social interaction and all cultural production seems to be one of Subodh’s primary concerns.” (Peter Nagy, “Subodh Gupta: The Metaphorical Sublime”, Subodh Gupta, Bodhi Art Exhibition Catalogue, 2007, not paginated)

courtesy: www.saffronart.com

Riyas Komu

Artville artist of the day: Riyas Komu
Title: Onlyness
Year: 2007
Medium: Oil on canvas 
Size: 69 x 120 in.  


Riyas Komu produces politically charged paintings, sculptures and installations that channel difficult subjects including religion and identity. He grew up in Kerala, where both his father and uncle were politicians and subsequently influenced his world view—planting the drive to tackle and critique government policy and affairs. Perhaps best known for his portraiture, he captures extreme emotions, their intensity understood to be fueled by the plights of contemporary India. The compositions are always cropped tightly around the face, lest we pay attention to anything but the human subject and the physicality of socio-political inequalities, or of war or of dissolute poverty. Recently, he has focused on several football-related projects, which includes a large scale sculpture installation at the Pompitue Centre in Paris in 2010 and a series of portraits of Indian National Team soccer players.

courtesy:www.aicongallery.com

Bharti Kher

Artville artist of the day: Bharti Kher

Title: Seeing Some Things Better
Year: 2004
Medium: Mixed media with bindis on composite aluminum board
Size: 47.5 x 47.5 in | 120.6 x 120.6 cm

Bharti Kher’s is an art of dislocation and transience, reflecting her own, largely itinerant life. Born and raised in England, the artist moved to New Delhi in the early 1990s after her formal training in the field, and today, like most of her contemporaries, frequently travels the world attending to exhibitions of her art. Consequently, the concept of home as the location of identity and culture is constantly challenged in her body of work. In addition to an autobiographical examination of identity, Kher’s unique perspective also facilitates an outsider’s ethnographic observation of contemporary life, class and consumerism in urban India. 

Presently, Kher uses the ‘bindi’, a dot indicative of the third eye worn by the Indian women on their foreheads, as the central motif and most basic building block in her work. Bharti Kher often refers to her mixed media works with bindis, the mass-produced, yet traditional ornaments, as ‘action paintings’. Painstakingly placed on the surface one-by-one to form a design, the multi-coloured bindis represent custom, often inflexible, as well as the dynamic ways in which it is produced and consumed today. The artist is also known for her collection of wild and unusual resin-cast sculptures, embellished with bindis, and her digital photography. 

Bharti Kher was born in London in 1969. She studied at Middlesex Polytechnic, London, and went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art Painting with honours from New Castle Polytechnic, in 1988. Some of her most recent solo shows include ‘Virus’ at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, in 2008; ‘An Absence of Assignable Cause’ at Nature Morte Gallery, New Delhi, and at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, in 2007; ‘Do Not Meddle In The Affairs of Dragons Because You Are Crunchy and Taste Good with Ketchup’ at Gallery Ske, Bangalore and Project 88, Mumbai, in 2006; ‘Quasi-, mim-, ne-, near-, semi-, -ish, -like’ at Gallery Ske, Bangalore, in 2004; and ‘Hungry Dogs Eat Dirty Pudding’ at Nature Morte, Delhi, also in 2004. She was the recipient of the Sanskriti award in 2003 and has been a part of Khoj since 1997. The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
Courtesy: www.saffronart.com

N S Harsha

Artville artist of the day: N S Harsha

Title: Spot an innocent civilian
Year: 2009
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 6x12 ft

Born in 1969, NS Harsha lives and works in Mysore, India. He was a recipient of the prestigious DAAD Scholarship in 2012, and was awarded the Artes Mundi Prize in 2008. Harsha has taken part in a variety of collaborative projects and exhibitions internationally. He has had recent solo presentations with DAAD, as part of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (2012 - 2013); INIVA, London (2009); and at Maison Hermes Tokyo (2008). His work has been included in various group exhibitions including the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2014); Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art (2013); Dojima Biennial, Osaka (2013); Adelaide International Biennial (2012); Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2012); the Yokohama Triennial (2011) and the Bienal de Sao Paulo (2010). He was also a participant in the major touring exhibition Indian Highway, which was staged at the Serpentine Gallery, London (2008); Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (2009); Herning Art Museum, Denmark (2010); Musée d'Art Contemporain, Lyon (2011); MAXXI, Rome (2011-12) and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2012).
courtesy: www.artslant.com

Gigi Scaria

Artville Artist of the day: Gigi Scaria

Title: Babel

Medium: Wood, aluminium sheet, acrylic mirrors and paint

Year: 2009

Size: 50 x 26 x 12 in | 127 x 66 x 30.5 cm

Born in 1973 in Kothanalloor, Kerala, Gigi Scaria completed his Bachelor’s degree in painting from the College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, in 1995, and his Master’s degree in the same from Jamia Millia University, New Delhi, in 1998. 

Gigi Scaria’s work draws the viewer’s attention towards the painful truths of migrancy and displacement. The issue of non-belonging and unsettlement reverberate between the walls on his canvas. “Gigi’s particular position is to investigate how city structures, social constructs, and the view of location is translated in social prejudice and class attitude,” says critic and curator Gayatri Sinha. 

Scaria’s solo shows include ‘Absence of an Architect’ at Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007; ‘Where are the Amerindians?’ at Inter America Space, Trinidad, in 2005 following his residency at CCA7 there; the Art Inc., New Delhi, in 2001; and Great Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 1998. Amongst his group shows, the most recent include, ‘Popular Reality’ at the Stainless Gallery, New Delhi, Jam Jar, Dubai, and Clark House, Mumbai, in 2008-2009; ‘Keep Drawing’ at Gallery Espace, New Delhi; ‘Walk On Line’ at Avanthy Contemporary, Zurich; ‘Indiavata (India + Avatar): Contemporary Artists from India’ at Gallery Sun Contemporary, Korea; ‘Young Contemporary Indian Artists’ at 1x1 Gallery, Dubai; ‘Click! Contemporary Photography in India’ at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi; and ‘Who Knows Mr. Gandhi ?’ at Aicon Gallery, London, all in 2008. Scaria also completed residencies in Biella, Italy in 2002 and New Delhi in 2004. In 2005, the artist was honored with the Sanskriti Award in Visual Art. Scaria lives and works in New Delhi.

Courtesy: www.saffronart.com

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Binoy Varghese

Artville Artist of the day: Binoy Varghese

Title: Portrait of John
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Year: 2011
Size: 36 x 48 inches

Born in Kerela, the artist has done his National Diploma in Fine Arts from R.L.V college of Fine Arts, Kerela.He has attended several residency programmes. His one man shows include : The Other Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts, Canada [2000], Artist of the month Max Muller Bhavan, Chennai [1996]. He has had several group shows some of which are: Quay Side Gallery, London [1996], Gallery 47 London [1997], Herwitz Gallery, Ahmedabad, [1997], HEAT Habitat Centre, New Delhi, [2002], Definitively Provisional ‘Whitechapel Project Space, Landon [2003], Virat Gallery, New Delhi, [2004].His works are in various collection in India and abroad including the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India. The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
courtesy: www.theartstrust.com

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