I saw Subodh Gupta at his first solo museum exhibition in the US at the SCAD Art Museum entitled Guests, Strangers, and Interlopers. This internationally known multidisciplinary artist chose sculptures and installation art to introduce himself here. His use of vessels in this installation reference mobility and spirituality. Gupta used brass vessels to create spires connected by string, possibly symbolizing our scientific and spiritual inter connectedness. From the Earth, But Not of It VII, is one of several 4-foot-tall clay jars. He modified the jars with fiberglass, plaster, and metal to represent the individualization that occurs within us as we spiritually become from this earth, but not of it.

Gupta began his early career as a local theater actor and worked as a stage designer and advertising agent making posters for their plays. Because his posters were so well received, his friends encouraged him to attend art school. He received the 1^st prize at the All-India Painting Exhibition. From his viewpoint as an artist, Gupta saw himself as the actor, audience, and director. Gupta moved from performing to painting for his most formidable work, in the late ’90s, but continues to pursue art in all mediums as the ideas demand, such as, sculpture, installation and public art.

He quickly transforms his thought processes and Indian ethos into universal outlooks—he employs many of Marcel Duchamp techniques by elevating the ready-made objects of art. Childhood memories in rural India are his treasure chest of ideas. By using quintessentially Indian icons that possess inherent dichotomies, such as stainless-steel utensils, tongs, and sacred cow dung, the artist questions society caught in traditional customs and globalization, old caste systems, and religious beliefs. His oeuvre comprises the secular, mythological, banal, sacred, economic, and historical. The repetition of forms and exaggerating scales is common in spectacle art, as in his public works Ray, The Proust Effect, and This is Not a Fountain.

His work allows us to see freeze-framed sights of his culture. Gupta’s goal is the elevation of everyday objects into the spiritual realm. He likens the kitchen to a type of temple. In paintings like Untitled, Monk’s Kettle, and My Village XIV, we feel the pristine presence of sharing a meal—the mindfulness of respect.

His love for cooking and hanging around his mother’s kitchen as a boy makes him a chef of both experience and memoir. Subodh speaks of his fondness for cooking, “Cooking for me is a hobby and passion, but now it’s an exploration. For me, cooking begins with my mother. I loved being with her, I was fascinated by the ritual and the ceremony in the kitchen space, how certain vessels were used for certain occasions.” In 2017, at Art Basel, Gupta showed his largest sculpture, Cooking the World—an open hut made from vintage aluminum utensils. When asked why he did not use new pots and pans, Gupta responded, “These used utensils are warm, humble, and have so much character. So, it’s like meeting an old friend.” In 2022, Cooking the World, was installed at the Hotel Belmond Cipriani in Venice, Italy. See the premier dining experience with Gupta here.

 

To learn more about this Godfather of Contemporary Art in India, see Brilliant Ideas.

More of Gupta’s work can be seen at his galleries: Nature Morte, Hauser &Wirth, Arario, and Galleria Continua.

 

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