Important Notice

In her body of work, Anju Dodiya frequently references the struggles involved in the process of developing and deconstructing ideas and images and, more specifically, the complexity and violence of her own creative process. Given the centrality of the artist's self-image in her oeuvre, Dodiya's narratives seem to perform an almost cathartic function, expressing her loss of part of herself to each of her creations.

In the present lot,... In her body of work, Anju Dodiya frequently references the struggles involved in the process of developing and deconstructing ideas and images and, more specifically, the complexity and violence of her own creative process. Given the centrality of the artist's self-image in her oeuvre, Dodiya's narratives seem to perform an almost cathartic function, expressing her loss of part of herself to each of her creations.

In the present lot, painted in 2008 following a trip to China, Dodiya's self-image wears a traditional cheongsam and seems to be facing a dual threat. On one side of her, a knotted noose lies ready to be slipped over her head. On the other, a lady's hand with a ruffled cuff and ominous shadow winds a graduated string of green jade beads into a similar noose. Underlining the violence she finds implicit in things of beauty, Dodiya has titled this painting Jade Knot.

Menacing images are not unusual in Dodiya's work; in other watercolours she has subjected her painterly self to vicious snakes, a rain of swords, impenetrable mazes, stocks and shackles amongst other torment. As Gayatri Sinha explains, in Dodiya's work, "…the real confrontations are vigorously enacted in a theatre of the self. Dodiya's inward conflicts and concerns, particularly those that emanate from her art practice, are mirrored in a series of dramatic images" ("Feminism and Women Artists in India", Contemporary Indian Art: Other Realities, Marg Publications, Mumbai, 2002, p. 72).

Dodiya elaborates, "When I started working, using my own self was the only way I knew how to paint. At that time, my works were like nocturnal diaries, full of stories and narratives. This invented self stayed on, it became a useful device, a take-off point, to explore my various states of mind- the darkness within, the tenderness and the fear. I set up characters and stories around it to explore this. Using my own face also gives me a sense of comfort, because very often my images are violent. I do not want to rain swords over someone else's body. I would rather do it to myself" (Anju Dodiya, Real in Realism, Vadhera Art Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2002, not paginated).

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