Important Notice

Initially concerned with semi-autobiographical themes that explored the self as it negotiated an environment of urban decay, in 2001 Jitish Kallat turned to an examination of contemporary violence in his Naked Skyline series of works. As the artist explains, "This suite of works was conceived almost five years ago when the US was carpet bombing Afghanistan following the (t)error attacks. The sky in these works is the carrier of the images.... Initially concerned with semi-autobiographical themes that explored the self as it negotiated an environment of urban decay, in 2001 Jitish Kallat turned to an examination of contemporary violence in his Naked Skyline series of works. As the artist explains, "This suite of works was conceived almost five years ago when the US was carpet bombing Afghanistan following the (t)error attacks. The sky in these works is the carrier of the images. Weapons replace the sun, the moon and the stars. Lightening descends with daggers and knives. I was thinking of how most forms of violence these days actually arrive from the sky. Neither the victim nor the perpetrator is shown in these works" (as quoted in Real in Realism, Vadehra Art Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2002, not paginated).

In the present lot, a canvas deliberately distressed by the artist, the fiery red colonial buildings that are under aerial attack could very well be in Bombay, the mega-metropolis where Kallat lives and works, and whose streets and people frequently appear in his works. With knives and lightening piercing familiar skies, these events become more real for the artist and his viewers than the news media could ever make them. Also, by bringing the violence so close to home, Kallat forces his viewers to question their own complicity - for the most part, by virtue of their indifference - in the events that led up to and followed the attacks of September 2001.

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