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Born and residing in Mumbai, Atul Dodiya's body of work is characterized by a layering of diverse imagery. The coherent use of icons and symbols conjure stories which beg introspection. A closer investigation reveals layered meanings that are meticulously woven into the visual fabric of the painted surface. His oeuvre has also come to represent a practiced equilibrium between its inherent Indianess and the global relevance of his discourse.... Born and residing in Mumbai, Atul Dodiya's body of work is characterized by a layering of diverse imagery. The coherent use of icons and symbols conjure stories which beg introspection. A closer investigation reveals layered meanings that are meticulously woven into the visual fabric of the painted surface. His oeuvre has also come to represent a practiced equilibrium between its inherent Indianess and the global relevance of his discourse. Dodiya's 'voice' addresses his immediate surroundings - his family, his city, his country and also current happenings around the world. From the mid 1990s his works have increasingly taken on a political stance - an informed commentary on the increasing violence seeping into the socio-political fabric of our globalised world.

The current lot is part of his Broken Branches series from 2003, exploring the relationship between violence and political history. Dodiya investigates the repercussions of violent historical events - from the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 and several rounds of communal riots in India, to the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001 and the war waged in Afghanistan in their aftermath. Through these visual investigations the artist seeks to probe the nature of suffering and disfigurement in spheres both private and public, past and present.

Writing about this series of works, Nancy Adajania notes, "Dodiya's incorporation of the body of the potential yogi in the large watercolors… is an attempt at exploring the nuances of vairagya in the wake of 9/11. A male with an idealized physique performs various asanas balancing the twin towers of The World Trade Center on his limbs. This acrobatics of the spirit is performed againt the deeply disturbing cycle of global violence, of terror and counter-terror… In the watercolors, the sadhak, the would-be yogi, strives to divest himself of the onus of history and obligation, to achieve a state of nomadic stability and equipoise towards the world."

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