subodh Gupta, a name that needs no introduction. We are feeling great to have showcased his work here on medesignwe; the first artist to be featured.
M~W was at National gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi to witness the artist’s larger than life pieces( only seen to be believed and understood). We sometimes feel artists of his echelon need to be a little eccentric to create what they create. Objects of everyday inspire them- things that we never value or give attention to! They have never seemed to have left their roots- it binds them, makes them who they are. The exhibition is called ‘everything is inside’ aptly so as most of his inspirations are from his home and kitchen.
|1|Subodh Gupta from Bihar, his journey was not a piece of cake. In his own words- What India is to world, Bihar is to India. He was called BIhari(not in a nice way). He used this as his vigor and created this piece called ‘Bihari’. Though he must have created this not as an answer to his contemporaries or anybody, the artwork is a substance in itself.
|2| It is this place- the kitchen that he gets most of his inspirations and ideas from- what he had done is something we can only try to comprehend. This setting is also a piece of art. How he has an eye for detailing – plastic food delivery containers are also washed to be used again in a normal Indian household.
|3| A glass full of water- you can only wonder what he is trying to do with this glass full of water(or is it something else) kept on a table. Some of us wanted to read between the lines but most of us couldn’t decipher.
|4| Another example of how close he felt to his kitchen comes from this half done wheat flour dough in bronze.
|5| Cow dung used for cooking has been a great influence on his work can be understood with his literal ‘hut of cow dung'(no pic) and his bronze pieces cow dung.
|6| Now, this goes an extra step- a cow sitting surrounded by all types of stainless steel utensils.
|7| Here, seating arrangement is made in array as in a traditional feasting occasions of marriages and temples etc.
|8| This is humungous- only seen to be believed. it’s like plethora of stainless steel utensils flowing from down below the stair to eternity, at a point you can even pass through.
|9| This installation called ‘where the mind stops’ is literally made out to be but using everyday steel utensils.
|10|Not ceasing to surprise is this traditional flush and WC in bronze with every detail taken care of.
|11| Again with all details are these wash basins. If you notice even the tiles are casted.
|12| In this one he has gone beyond his kitchen (way beyond). He has his eye on airport trolleys with luggage. What’s strange is that the trolley carries old styled suitcase and hold all.
|13| Old foot pedal sewing machine, on top of which are bronze mangoes(looking fresh and real) are kept.
|14| Just a huge pom pom out of bronze strips.
|15| Will this door open to a our childhood land?
|16| Two drums kept in a hallway, are even these made out of bronze or are they marble- don’t know!! But at the end of the hallway if you could see- a bronze casted scooter with conventional milk jars!!
|17| Again a huge boat loaded with old aluminum utensils. Over which are moving fans but upside down. This installation is called ‘All in the same boat’.
|18| These bronze sticks find their place at a corner.
|19| Old movie projector and reels too find their place in a hall- bronze, casted!
|20| Large sized Tiffin boxes perfectly made out of white marble.
|21| One of the most famous of his works- sliced black and yellow taxi seemingly pushed inside the earth halfway because of the overweight of the luggage.
|22| |23| |24| Rickshaw, cycle and Royal Enfield(bike) all casted find their fascination with Subodh Gupta as carrier of everyday business- water, milk, etc.
|25| This is our favorite- a large pile of old Al utensils and in between them are arbitrarily kept open taps with water continuously flowing(yes literally). Somehow this made us think that there is enough for all only if we realized it and stopped fighting over things.
We didn’t take our camera(reason for poor quality images) thinking photography must be prohibited, copy right issues etc, what we didn’t see was that no can create what he has even if someone tries to, it’ll be anyway called Subodh Gupta’s!! And it doesn’t matter, take as many photos as you want to, nobody says anything what you were not allowed to do was to touch- in which lied the real fun!
A penny for your thoughts!
Ps- This is not a review of the artist’s work, this is just how we saw his work as an ordinary (wo)man.
ALL IMAGES M~W