The theatrical aspect of everyday objects finds a voice in Subodh Gupta’s new works
Subodh Gupta often quotes from some of his favourite poets when he talks about his art practice. Pointing to his mixed media work of a cobbler’s shoeshine kit on show at the newly-opened Nature Morte in Mumbai, he says he is reminded of two lines by the Hindi poet Dhoomil (Sudama Pandey): Sach kahoon sahab, na koi chota hai, na bada hai, mere saamne har aadmi do jodi joota jo marramat ke liye khada hai—loosely translated to ‘To tell you the truth, there’s no-one big or small. In front of me, every person is a pair of shoes waiting to get their footwear repaired’.
“I read these lines when I was in Class 10 or 11 when I was not even an artist, but they stayed with me. I try to look at the unconventional,” he says. As viewers take in the work, he asks them to look closely and let their imagination soar. Soon, somewhere, within that cobbler’s shoeshine toolkit, a face emerges...hair, eyes, nose.
“It looks a bit like an African mask. So here I am thinking of this mask, the struggle of the cobbler’s life and Dhoomil’s poem—all of them come together to create this work of art,” he shares. The artwork is part of the exhibition titled A Small Village, Around the Corner, Up in a Mountain, where the contemporary artist has put together some of his works created in the last few years including paintings, sculptures and wall reliefs. The artist who received his BFA in Painting from the College of Art in Patna (1983-1988), is known for transforming icons of everyday life into intricate artworks-cum-commentary reflecting on the transformation of the economic and cultural Indian landscape.
The 60-year-old artist, who was born and brought up in Bihar, is very much a product of his upbringing and influences. From thali plates to milk pails and tiffin boxes, everyday stainless steel kitchen utensils and found objects have been incorporated into his monumental sculptural works.
Imbued with different meanings, these works have been showcased in exhibitions across the world. His mid-career survey, curated by Germano Celant, was held at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi in 2012, where his monumental sculpture People Tree is permanently installed on the front lawns, facing India Gate.
Growing up in a woman-dominated household with a mother and three elder sisters, much of his time was spent in the kitchen, observing them use utensils for cooking. “In the late 80s and early 90s, almost 90 per cent of the Indian population used steel utensils—it did not matter which strata of society one belonged to. Secondly, I like cooking and watching my mother and sisters cooking left an impact on me,” he shares.
At the current exhibition, many of his oil on linen paintings have depictions of utensils as does the mixed media work Close to the River Where Wood is Burning. Utensils have now been a part of his work for more than three decades, and Gupta compares it to a samudra manthan—a churning of the seas.
“One feels that one should be done with it now but one keeps exploring and finding newer meanings in them. Even a lifetime is not enough to explore it all,” says the Delhi-based artist, who has new shows coming up in Bihar as well as in Korea. Not many know this, but as a young man, Gupta worked in a theatre troupe, acting and designing posters for the plays. Little wonder that the aspect of theatricality and performance is very much a part of his creativity.
“I look for the performance aspect in my art,” he says. In 2006, he had combined his love for cooking—“I make really good South Indian, Bengali and Assamese dishes. I am also adept at making Japanese and Korean food,” he says—and the use of utensils, and created a food performance, preparing dal and soup for almost 1,000 people at Saint Bernard in Paris.
]“I am improving on this further. I recently made a kitchen in my studio for my friends, where I will perform with my food. I believe it to be a very nourishing aspect of art and it also brings in the performance part to it,” he says. That’s some food for thought.
A Small Village, Around the Corner, Up in a Mountain; Nature Morte, Dhanraj Mahal, Mumbai; Till March 9