Subodh Gupta’s work has been centered around the transformation of a urban Indian middle class, through the everyday objects that are emblematic of an economic shift. He refers not to the disenfranchised subaltern that was symbolic of urban India in the 1970s and 80’s, but the physically transient and economically mobile Indian and his material desires. He also personalizes this shift by making references to his own identity...
Subodh Gupta’s work has been centered around the transformation of a urban Indian middle class, through the everyday objects that are emblematic of an economic shift. He refers not to the disenfranchised subaltern that was symbolic of urban India in the 1970s and 80’s, but the physically transient and economically mobile Indian and his material desires. He also personalizes this shift by making references to his own identity as a Bihari, replete with its connotations of political and economic rurality and and his subsequent move to an urban Delhi.
“Subodh Gupta’s recent works portray objects and images of indecisive moments and cultural fluctuations. During the past decade, this art has employed certain clicked emblems of India: the cow, stainless steel kitchen articles, the scooter, cow dung cakes, his own persona as a man from a village in Bihar. All along, Gupta’s purpose was two-fold to both edify such emblems and to critique them. Since his aim is to both elevate and castigate, his predilection is usually for images and objects which already possess an internal hybridity, which already appear to be comically confused themselves…This focus on the Indian who emigrates to another country is a recurring theme in the popular cinema and those that do so and gain success in their respective fields are publicly celebrated as still belonging to India and lauded as its finest exports. In this mix are complex feelings of insecurity and frustration, nationalist pride and materialistic yearnings. Gupta cannily spotlights the simple articles that symbolize a myriad of social and psychological conundrums such as these.” (Peter Nagy, Transitory Indecisions and Fluctuating Monuments, Nature Morte, Sakshi Gallery, 2005)