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Lot 50

 

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Bharti Kher's art reflects on several sets of dualities: male-female, human-nature, modern- traditional and local-foreign amongst them. Blurring the lines between such hard-and-fast distinctions, Kher's approach is neither entrenched in personal inquiries nor dependent on tropes borrowed from public culture. Instead, her body of work resides in an in-between world where exterior meets interior. Drawing on her dual identity as an Indian with a... Bharti Kher's art reflects on several sets of dualities: male-female, human-nature, modern- traditional and local-foreign amongst them. Blurring the lines between such hard-and-fast distinctions, Kher's approach is neither entrenched in personal inquiries nor dependent on tropes borrowed from public culture. Instead, her body of work resides in an in-between world where exterior meets interior. Drawing on her dual identity as an Indian with a British background, Kher invents hybrid worlds and creations, originating in her own hybrid upbringing, to aid in the discovery of new perspectives on cultural practices and icons.

In the present lot, Kher's leitmotif of the 'bindi' takes on the role of giving physical form to the ancient idea of 'Indra's Net'. In Buddhist philosophy, Indra's net (also known as Indra's pearls or Indra's jewels) is a metaphor used to explain the concept of emptiness and the principle of the interdependence of all phenomena as a result of the mutually interdependent nature of cause and effect. The repeated application of the 'bindi' in a series of concentric circles and patterns produces an ad infinitum effect - drawing parallels between the 'bindi' and Indra's 'pearls' which, as per Buddhist philosophy, project reflections of all the other pearls in his web. Kher's use of the bindi adds to the complex symbology it already represents, contributing to its ambiguous power.

"The application of the bindi represents an unbroken ritual practiced daily by millions of Indian women. Such acts are described by anthropologist Marcel Mauss as 'techniques of the body,' which, like other physical disciplines such as consumption and eating, are repetitive and periodic. Sticking thousands of bindis on surfaces require a kind of machine-like repetition. It could lead to exhaustion and entropy, but for Kher it is a meditative exercise. Repetition and staccato, the way Kher designs and writes, becomes a way of ordering her universe" (Kanu Kartik Agarwal, "The In-Between Worlds of Bharti Kher", Bharti Kher, Nature Morte and Gallery SKE exhibition catalog, 2006. p. 10).

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