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Lot 121

 

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Atul Dodiya has always been aware of the dual issues of ‘viewing’ and ‘discussing’ art. From his early canvases to his current, frequently three-dimensional works, the artist has sought to engage his viewers with these problems, pushing them to consciously seek information about the art they encounter and arrive at their own interpretation of it, rather than blindly accepting proffered explanations.

In the late 1980s, Dodiya worked on... Atul Dodiya has always been aware of the dual issues of ‘viewing’ and ‘discussing’ art. From his early canvases to his current, frequently three-dimensional works, the artist has sought to engage his viewers with these problems, pushing them to consciously seek information about the art they encounter and arrive at their own interpretation of it, rather than blindly accepting proffered explanations.

In the late 1980s, Dodiya worked on a series of muted canvases that presented this problematic dichotomy through the restrained palette and strong figurative realism that defined his style at that time and won him critical acclaim and early recognition. These simple, flat representations were influenced as much by the British Pop artist David Hockney`s humour and whimsical realism, as they were by the chiaroscuro of the famous interiors painted by the Dutch Masters, as also the witty and disturbing works of Indian modernist, Bhupen Khakhar.

The present lot, part of this series, depicts a man seemingly deep in conversation with a cubist-looking sculpture mounted on a pedestal. The single stooped figure comically combines the acts of viewing and discussing art, in an attempt to actively involve the inanimate piece in his interpretation of it. As with Dodiya’s other works from the late 1980s, this canvas offers viewers both an interior and an exterior scene, subtly involving the artist’s native city, Mumbai, in its capricious narrative.

Speaking about this series of works, the artist explains the various concepts that he explored through the viewer in the art gallery confronted with an abstract sculpture. “I was interested in the posture of the man, the stillness of the sculpture and the solitude of the art gallery. The experience of any work of art is abstract and that`s why everything looks as if things are floating. Occasionally, I would paint a plant or a street scene to create the contrast between the mundane and the unique experience which a work of art gives to a viewer" (adapted from an email exchange with the artist, February 2008).

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